SINGAPORE OPEN 2015 Day 1 – Simon secures spot in main draw

Simon Santoso (photo) has once again started his journey through qualifying rounds. Today, in an usually hot Singapore Indoor Stadium, the Indonesian also won both his matches, against Emil Holst (pictured below) and Ajay Jayaram, each in two, hard-fought games.

Story and photos by Raphael Sachetat (live from Singapore) / Badmintonphoto

It was a familiar scene on Tuesday in Singapore Indoor Stadium and yet the 2015 OUE Singapore Open Superseries does have a distinctly different feel.  Just like he did last year, Simon Santoso battled through qualifying, which he did in 2014 en route to becoming the champion by edging Lee Chong Wei in the final.  This time it was a little hotter than usual, though.  There was also a lot less drift than in previous years as the air conditioning had obviously been lowered.

“I hope I can defend my title at the OUE Singapore Open but I think it will be harder this year. I will try hard and take each match one at a time,” said Santoso, who was left with little attention in the mixed zone as he had won just at the same time as local hope Derek Wong had lost.

Santoso will next take on Malaysia’s Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif, who surged past top local men’s singles shuttler Derek Wong 21-12, 21-16 in the qualifiers. Abdul Latif is the only Malaysian to join Chong Wei Feng, who was promoted from qualifying, to participate in the main round after Liew Daren was sent packing today. And while his compatriots where battling on court, Lee Chong Wei was making his way to London from Kuala Lumpur Airport, in order to meet with his British lawyer to prepare for his hearing in Amsterdam on Friday.

Chae and Choi on top

There were not only qualifying rounds on Tuesday in Singapore.  Most of the mixed doubles’ first round matches were also played, leaving only 4 matches to be played on Wednesday morning. If the main favourites made it to the second round quite easily – including Xu Chen and Ma Jin, who avenged their  easy loss in the All England to Debby Susanto and Praveen Jordan – it wasn’t the case of 7th seeds Dili and Widianto. The Indonesians bit the dust against an inspired pair of Choi Sol Kyu and Chae Yoo Jung (photo), the two-time Asian Junior Champions. The Koreans left no chance to their opponents in crucial points with a final 21-15, 21-19 success.

Some good matches are up to be played on Wednesday such as Lee Hyun Il taking on Parupalli Kashyap, or Tai Tzu Ying against Porntip Buranaprasertsuk.

Click here for complete Tuesday results