Hours after their opening matches were scheduled, top-ranked Lee Chong Wei and his nemesis Lin Dan began their latest All England Open badminton campaigns and wasted little time on Wednesday.
Chong Wei, almost three hours after his original start time, beat Wang Zhengming of China 21-16, 21-11 to maintain his unbeaten start to the year, improving to 14-0 in his quest for a third successive All England title.
He next has a first-time meeting with Hans-Kristian Vittinghus, the Dane who produced a minor surprise when he ousted 11th-ranked Simon Santoso of Indonesia 21-14, 8-21, 21-7, winning nine straight points in the third game.
Santoso was coming off the German Open final on Sunday, when he lost to Lin, while Vittinghus came to Birmingham having gone unbeaten in helping Denmark keep their European teams title, then pushing Lin in the German quarter-finals last week.
Lin, the four-time All England champ who lost to Lee in last year’s final, took care of Ajay Jayaram of Indonesia 21-18, 21-15 in a match that finished after midnight before a smattering of fans. In round two, Lin will meet Malaysian qualifier Chong Wei Feng, then either 2008 champ Chen Jin or 2005 world champ Taufik Hidayat in the quarter-finals.
It took more than 16 hours of play and not until after 2am for the first seed to fall at National Indoor Arena, where No. 8 Peter Gade, the 1999 champ making his 17th and last All England appearance before retirement, bowed to the only Englishman in the draw, Rajiv Ouseph, 17-21, 21-16, 21-14.
Lin’s protege, third-seeded Chen Long, advanced when Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia retired with an injured foot before their third game.
Leading Japanese players, sixth-seeded Sho Sasaki and No. 7 Kenichi Tago, both eliminated dangerous Danes. Sasaki beat Jan O Jorgensen 21-18, 21-19, while Tago, the 2010 finalist, defeated European junior champion Viktor Axelsen 21-12, 24-22.
TAIWANESE PLAYERS
No. 8 Lee Hyun-il, who retired for two years after the Beijing Olympics, downed qualifier Chou Tien-chen of Taiwan 21-11, 21-13.
The 10th-ranked Du Pengyu of China lost to Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka 21-16, 15-21, 21-19, with the Indonesian reeling off the last four points as he smashed 14 winners in the deciding game.
Rumbaka’s other win over Du in the first round of the Japan Open last September are his only victories over a top-10 player in more than two years.
On the women’s side, top-ranked Wang Yihan of China dispatched Pai Hsiao-ma of Taiwan 21-10, 21-8.
Wang will next run into teammate Liu Xin, who she has never lost to, with a quarter-final looming against old foe Tine Baun of Denmark. Wang beat Baun in the 2009 final, then lost to the Dane in the 2010 final. Both missed last year’s tournament because of injuries.
Defending champion Wang Shixian won with unexpected ease, by 21-9, 21-15 against Taiwan’s Cheng Shao Chieh.
Baun, a two-time All England champ, opened with a 21-15, 21-15 win over Mingtian Fu of Singapore without feeling a right hip injury.
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