World silver medalist Wang Xin of China opened her title challenge at the Japan Open with an easy win over Taiwan’s Pai Hsiao-ma yesterday.
Fresh from her victory at the China Masters last weekend, the Chinese second seed coasted to a straightforward 21-16, 21-14 win in 29 minutes in the first round of the women’s singles.
The world No.2 rated her performance as “70 percent,” adding: “I feel relaxed on court. That’s why I can play calmly.”
PHOTO: AFP
Wang, runner-up to Chinese world No. 1 Wang Yihan at last year’s Japan Open, lost to her compatriot Wang Lin in the world championship final last month.
She faces severe competition from her compatriots as the players eye the London Olympics in 2012.
“Wang Yihan has not been playing very well recently. She’s been trying to regain her best form. But I’m sure she is getting back soon. Both [Wang Yihan and Wang Lin] are my biggest rivals for the Olympics,” Wang Xin said.
Top seed Wang Yihan was due to play Jeanine Cicognini of Switzerland later yesterday.
Fourth seed Tine Baun of Denmark stayed on course for a potential semi-final showdown against Wang Xin by beating Salakjit Ponsana of Thailand 21-13, 21-11.
“I played well. It was good that my body got moving after last week and I took the right decisions. I’m very happy about this victory, because Salakjit is a good player,” said Baun, runner-up at the China Masters.
Baun captured her first tour title at the 2007 Japan Open under the name of Rasmussen. She has also won the All England twice and the European championships this season.
Chinese third seed Wang Shixian beat Megumi Taruno of Japan 21-14, 21-16, while eighth seed Yao Jie of the Netherlands became the first seed to fall, losing to Sung Ji-hyun of South Korea 21-18, 21-15.
In the men’s singles competition Athens Olympic gold medallist Taufik Hidayat became the biggest casualty yesterday when he crashed in an unexpected loss to Japan’s Sho Sasaki.
The fourth seed, who reached the final at the world championships last month, failed to take the last two points in the last two games before going down 18-21, 23-21, 21-19 in the first round.
“You say it was an unexpected defeat, but you never know whether you can win or lose. There’s always a possibility to lose any matches,” said the 2005 world champion, now 29.
“It is not that he [Sasaki] played very well, I just couldn’t play well. I couldn’t control the shuttle at all,” he said.
Sasaki, ranked 34th against Hidayat’s fourth in the world, said it was a dream just to play against the Indonesian.
“It’s my first time to play against Taufik. I feel like it’s a dream to just play against him. I didn’t know how fast and heavy his shots would be. I just tried to show my best play to the Japanese people,” Sasaki said.
“My best shot is a smash, but today I didn’t hit it always. I tried to take the chance to hit it during each rally. I think that was the key to the victory,” Sasaki said after the 66-minute match.
In tomorrow’s second round, Sasaki will play Park Sung-hwan of South Korea, who beat Taiwan’s Chen Chou-tien 21-12, 21-13.
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