Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat battled through a tough second game yesterday to set up a crunch Hong Kong Open clash with his arch-rival, world No. 1 Lin Dan.
The Indonesian former world champion saw off repeated assaults by South Korea's Park Sung-hwan before prevailing 21-12, 21-19 in front of an appreciative crowd.
China's Lin earlier thumped Shoji Sato of Japan 21-15, 21-11 to book his quarter-final berth against Hidayat -- badminton's equivalent of McEnroe versus Connors.
"That was lucky," Hidayat grinned. "It was a difficult match. The first game was easy so I thought I would win quickly, but the second was slower and it was hard to keep focused."
The notoriously fiery Hidayat stunned spectators here last year when he stormed out of his quarter-final match with "Super Dan" in protest at a disputed line call.
It was one in a long line of incidents between the two, culminating in a furious verbal spat at last year's Asian Games.
But Hidayat said there would be no repeat of the histrionics and stressed he was on good terms with the Chinese star.
"I'm not thinking about that. Forget it, it was crazy," he said of last year's incident. "We don't talk much because we don't speak the same language. The relationship is good. We say hello but we never talk."
Hidayat was in exhibition mode in the opening game against Park -- Lin's first-round conqueror at the China Open last week -- playing behind his back and making some impossible saves.
But the elegant Indonesian was forced to dig deep in the second, producing his full range of lightning defense, disguised drops and confusing net play before finishing off the tenacious Park with an overhead.
The two-time Asian Games champion has not beaten Lin since the 2005 world final and he admitted Lin would be the favorite today.
"Now Lin Dan is on top so I think it will be difficult, but I will try," Hidayat said. "I will talk with my coach tonight about how to play."
Lin was typically bullish after seeing off Sato's early resistance with a series of heavy overheads and bewitching court craft that frequently sent his exasperated opponent sprawling.
"I've beaten him [Hidayat] a lot recently so I'm quite confident," Lin said. "I would have preferred to play Park, because he beat me last week. That was a bit of a surprise."
In other results, China Open champion Bao Chunlai was forced out his match against Malaysia's Muhammad Roslin Hashim with a right ankle injury, while Denmark's Tine Rasmussen surprised French fifth seed Pi Hongyan.
The US$250,000 Hong Kong Open is the last leg of badminton's inaugural Super Series. A planned Masters Final in Qatar was canceled as a result of a lack of sponsorship.
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
Arminia Bielefeld on Tuesday pulled off a major upset in the DFB-Pokal by defeating defending champions Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2-1 in their semi-final. The third-division team came from behind after Jonathan Tah gave the visitors a 17th-minute lead. Marius Worl replied three minutes later and Maximilian Groser scored Bielefeld’s second goal just before the break. The home team looked more likely to add to that tally as the Leverkusen players looked jaded. “I’m just proud of this team,” Bielefeld coach Mitch Kniat said as most of the fans the small stadium sang around him. “No one will sleep in the city tonight.” Patrik Schick went
THREES KINGS: The Celtics claimed a piece of league history by setting a new record for the number of threes in a season, ending their game with 1,370 Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun on Friday combined for 65 points as the Houston Rockets halted Oklahoma City’s 11-game winning streak with a statement 125-111 victory. In a potential Western Conference finals preview, the Rockets produced a dominant all-round performance to jolt the top-seeded Thunder’s all-conquering preparations for the post-season. Green finished with 34 points from 11-of-24 shooting, while Turkish big man Sengun made 31 points as second-placed Houston improved to 51-27. Oklahoma City grabbed the lead in the opening minutes of the first quarter, but Houston soon knocked the Thunder out of their stride with a physical approach to move into the
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) have shown the team do not need star power to win trophies and with the French Ligue 1 title won with six games to spare, the French champions would look to finish the season without losing, manager Luis Enrique said on Saturday. A 1-0 victory over Angers SCO at the Parc des Princes helped PSG win their fourth straight Ligue 1 title and a record-extending 13th overall. PSG can still break Nantes’ 30-year-old record of 32 games unbeaten. Although Nantes lost one game en route to the title, no French club has ever gone an entire league