INDONESIA GPG 2013 QF – Ahsan/Setiawan’s winning streak stopped

Hendra Setiawan & Mohammad Ahsan (photo) were eliminated in their quarter-final match at the Yonex-Sunrise Indonesia Grand Prix Gold by compatriots Ronald Alexander / Selvanus Geh, denying the World Men’s Doubles Badminton Champions a 5^th straight title.

By Mathilde Liliana Perada, Badzine Correspondent live in Yogyakarta.  Photos: Ira Ratnati for Badzine (live)

It took them three games but Indonesian youngsters Ronald Alexander and Selvanus Geh (photo) were finally able break winning streak of the world #2 pair, halting them at 22 straight victories, a run that began at the Indonesia Open Superseries Premier 2013 in June.

Ahsan/Setiawan won the first game easily but then their opponents gave resistance and didn’t make it easy on the pair which had just clinched the Yonex Japan Open title last week and the upstarts eventually took away the second and third games.

“There is a winner and loser for each match. We’re not robots and we can not always win! They played better than us and they deserved to win,” said Hendra after the match, adding he is happy to be beaten younger team-mates and hopes Ronald and Selvanus can keep their good performance.

The latter were very happy after winning the match and felt more confident to face their next match. “We were too self-conscious in the first game. We just tried to play better in the second and third games to get one point after the other,” explained Ronald.

Another top seed from Indonesia, Lindaweni Fanetri, was stopped in the quarter-final after she lost to Chinese newcomer Yao Xue. Yao, who has a typical attacking game, never let the Indonesian have any chance, beating the home favourite in straight games 21-19, 21-16. She will face another home representative, Maria Febe Kusumastuti, in the semi-final.

“I gave my best but she played better. She has a wide variety of strokes and could control the game, so I was under pressure,” said Linda. Her team-mate, Bellaetrix Manuputy, followed her path when she went down to Suo Di in 49 minutes. The China’s young women’s singles shuttler will be another threat to a potential clean sweep from the home shuttlers.

New jewel progresses

Sixteen-year-old Jonatan Christie (photo) had reached the quarter-finals after beating #4 seeded from Malaysia, Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif, and Tam Chun Hei from Hong Kong. However, preventing the promising Indonesian from becoming the youngest men’s singles player in at least a decade to enter a GP Gold semi-final was former world #3 Simon Santoso. Jonathan admitted that he played bold and reckless in his last two matches but he couldn’t bring it to his quarter-final match.

“I just feel very disappointed not because of losing today but because my performance was not as good as before. I made many mistakes and it really frustrated me,” said Jonatan. Simon hinted that Jonatan played well but that his strokes are still not mature enough, even if his level of confidence was up after winning Indonesia International Challenge 2013 in July. Santoso added he could become another threat in men’s singles if he can improve his consistency.

Indonesia has ensured the men’s singles title after creating an all-Indonesian semi-final round in this tournament. Suppanyu Avihingsanon (photo) Thailand and Singapore’s Derek Wong both had chances to stop the hosts from monopolizing the final four but were sent packing by home favourites. Suppanyu was beaten by Sony Dwi Kuncoro to three tough games.

“Sony played well and the support from the spectators here was another strength for him. I was able to control the first game but Sony changed the way he played in the second and third games. It was difficult for me,” explained Suppanyu.

Click here for complete quarter-final results