SUDIRMAN CUP 2011 SF – Indonesia DENied

Denmark duplicated the semi-final feat of their Sunday opponents China, ceding men’s doubles while chalking up a 3-1 win.  Indonesia showed plenty of fight but the Danish veterans were just too confident and too consistent.

By Don Hearn, Badzine Correspondent.  Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

Denmark may have come into these semi-finals the only team never to have won the Sudirman Cup but they certainly played like favourites this evening.  Indonesia, their top stars scattered by a mixture of injuries and nobility, struggled to mount a challenge to Europe’s best.

In the opening match, however, Fran Kurniawan Teng / Pia Zebadiah Bernadeth (pictured) did not seem at all fazed by Hong Kong Open champions Joachim Fischer Nielsen / Christinna Pedersen (pictured below), despite their lofty ranking.  The Indonesians came out firing and took the first game 21-15.

The Danish pair came back to take the next two games, though, managing to keep the attack better while remaining more consistent.  Their 15-21, 21-11, 21-13 victory gave Denmark a huge boost going into the next two matches, where their men were even heavier favourites.

Peter Gade (pictured below) was up next and while the ageless world #5 has always had an edge over his opponent Simon Santoso, he was obviously respecting Simon’s talent and tenacity, not least of all because the Indonesian had won their last encounter, at January’s Korea Open Premier Super Series.

Gade led at the first mid-game interval but Santoso gave chase and finally drew level at 15-all when he knocked down a high net shot by Gade and the umpire ruled his racquet had not crossed above the net tape.  The Indonesian had a little trouble controlling the shuttle, though, and Gade closed out the first game 21-18 when Simon sent a second consecutive lift outside of his opponent’s forehand sideline.

Gade took a little longer to get into the driver’s set in the second game but he still edged into the lead to bring up the interval and then he set to work on putting some distance between himself and his opponent.  Gade earned himself 5 match points but took it home on the second try to put his team up two matches to nil.

For the second time in the day, the favoured team found themselves up 2-0 with an explosive men’s doubles pairing up to finish off the win.  Unlike in the Korea-China match, however, Denmark had world #1 Carsten Mogensen / Mathias Boe on deck.  Meanwhile, though Indonesia was left depending on a scratch pairing, Alvent Yulianto Chandra / Mohammad Ahsan (pictured below) had already knocked off the India Open champions on the previous night.

While a blowout might have been too much to wish for, the Danes were able to to stay out in front through most of the first game, but the Indonesians saved 4 game points and then surged out to snatch it 23-21.

Their confidence bolstered, Chandra and Ahsan kept the ball rolling until they had earned the point for their team, running away with the second game 21-17, and serving up the world’s top pair the shortest of three consecutive defeats in this tournament.

Tine Baun (pictured top), who has been battling injury for most of the spring, would probably have loved to take the evening off and rest up for a possible showdown with one of China’s big guns in the final.  This was not to be, however, as the surprise defeat in men’s doubles meant that her services were badly needed to shore up the semi-final and prevent it from going to a deciding women’s doubles, the one discipline where Denmark could not field a favoured side.

Fortunately for Baun, she did not cede a game to her challenger as she had on Friday and instead won her match against Adriyanti Firdasari by a rather comfortable 21-12, 21-13 and Denmark saw their way through to the Sudirman Cup final for the first time since Copenhagen 12 years ago.

The unfortunate news, of course, is that while Denmark does have an outside chance at the final – with their men’s doubles and mixed doubles having beaten China’s best in the past year and Tine Baun having beaten or seriously threatened all but Wang Xin – they cannot help but rely on the as-yet winless world #1’s Boe and Mogensen (pictured) for a point in the final.  Of course, men’s doubles is notoriously unpredictable and there is no shame in any of the pair’s losses thus far, but they no doubt know they will have to bring their A game and more to take on Cai/Fu in the final.

Final results:

XD: Joachim Fischer Nielsen / Christinna Pedersen (DEN) beat Fran Kurniawan Teng / Pia Zebadiah Bernadet  (INA) 15-21, 21-11, 21-13
MS: Peter Gade (DEN) beat Simon Santoso (INA) 21-18, 21-16
MD: Carsten Mogensen / Mathias Boe  (DEN) lost to Alvent Yulianto Chandra / Mohammad Ahsan  (INA) 21-23, 17-21
WS: Tine Baun (DEN) beat Adriyanti Firdasari (INA) 21-12, 21-13
WD: Christinna Pedersen / Kamilla Rytter Juhl (DEN) vs Greysia Polii / Meiliana Jauhari (INA) (not played)

Denmark 3 – 1 Indonesia