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Chong Wei Upsets Chen Hong To Enter Malaysian Open Final
KUANTAN, July 3 (Bernama) -- Last year's runner-up Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia stunned the defending champion and second seed Chen Hong of China to enter the final of the US$120,000 (RM456,000) Malaysia Open badminton championships at the Sukpa Indoor Stadium in Bandar Indera Mahkota, here Sunday.
In Saturday night's semifinals, the 13th seed Chong Wei prevailed in three games 15-8, 5-15, 15-6 in exactly one hour to claim his second successive final appearance in his home Grand Prix.
It was the 21-year-old Penangite's first ever victory over the Chinese world number two in three encounters so far as he lost both their previous head-to-head clashes in the 2002 Asian Championships third round and last year's Malaysia Open final in Kota Kinabalu.
Chong Wei will meet unseeded Park Sung-hwan in Sunday's final as the South Korean rising star clawed back from a game down to create another upset win over world champion Xia Xuanze of China 8-15, 17-15, 15-10 in 82 minutes.
Fully backed by the 4,000 sell-out crowds, Chong Wei played according to his game plan to send the shuttle low for most of the time which eventually forced Chen Hong to do the unforced errors.
He returned every shots given by Chen Hong, the former All England champion, and while giving away the opening point to his opponent, the Malaysian raced to a 7-3 lead. At 9-8, he grabbed six points in a row to seal the opening game 15-8 in 24 minutes after Chen Hong failed to retrieve his smash at the left-court sideline.
Chen Hong then redoubled his effort and it was paid off as he was 9-4 ahead in the second game with brilliant and powerful smashes to the sidelines. He gave away just another point before winning the game 15-5 in 14 minutes as Chong Wei's return hits the net.
In the rubber game, Chong Wei was leading 7-1 with attacking plus great net play. Chen Hong closed the gap to 5-7 but Chong Wei had the upper hand when they changed the court at 8-5.
With two service changes, the Malaysian reached the match point at 14-6 but Chen Hong saved three match points before surrendering 6-15 after losing a long rally battle with Chong Wei finished it off with a killer at the net.
"I'm very happy to have avenged my previous defeats to Cheng Hong. It's true, I was tired but I knew Chen Hong was tired too in the third set and tried to attack me but shots ended up in the net," said Chong Wei, ranked 15th in the world.
"I feel my chances for the final Sunday are 50-50 even though I lost to Sung-hwan in the Japan Open in April. I'll try my best but we'll see how I recover from this match," said Chong Wei, who has a 1-1 head-to-head record against Sung-hwan.
Aside from losing the Japan Open first round 11-15, 15-11, 16-17, Chong Wei defeated the Asian junior singles champion 15-11, 4-15, 15-12 in their first meeting at the Thailand Open third round in January.
Sung-hwan, who secured upset victories over Indonesian number one Sony Dwi Kuncoro in the third round and reigning world number one Lin Dan of China in the quarterfinals, was on the brink of defeat against Xuanze, as he trailed 10-13 in the second game after losing the first 8-15.
However, he fought back gallantly to win the match 17-15 and forced the rubber. Xuanze, the 2000 Malaysia Open runner-up in Shah Alam after losing to Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat, could not prevent Sung-hwan from entering his first ever Grand Prix final when he lost the decider 10-15.
Malaysia also have representatives in the men's doubles final with third seeds Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah, as expected, beating their inexperienced compatriots Tan Bin Shen and Ong Soon Hock 17-14, 15-4 in Saturday night's semifinals.
Tan Fook and Wan Wah, whose last World Grand Prix title was at the 1999 German Open, will face the fifth seeds Luluk Hadiyanto and Alven Yulianto of Indonesia in the final of the four-star meet.
The Malaysian duo, currently ranked fourth in the world, lost in their last three finals in the All-England this year, last year's China and Hong Kong Opens.
They had a 2-2 head-to-head record against Luluk-Alven with the last meeting in favour of the Malaysians in the Thomas Cup quarter-finals in Jakarta two months ago.
Luluk and Alven struggled for more than an hour as they fought back from losing the opening game before beating the unseeded Danish pair Thomas Laybourn and Peter Steffensen 13-15, 15-5, 15-10.
The women's singles final will be between two Chinese shuttlers Zhou Mi and Zhang Ning. Zhou Mi, the third seed, shocked the top seed and world number one Gong Ruina, also of China, 11-8, 11-5 whilst Zhang Ning outclassed China-born Pi Hongyang, who represented France, 11-2, 11-5, in the other semi-finals.
-- BERNAMA
