INDONESIA OPEN 2015 Finals – World Champs take first Superseries title

World Champions Ko Sung Hyun, Shin Baek Cheol, and Tian Qing made the BCA Indonesia Open their first Superseries title in their current partnerships, spelling disappointment for Zhang Nan and for the Indonesian fans.

By Mathilde Liliana Perada and Naomi Indartiningrum, Badzine correspondents live in Jakarta.  Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

Hosts Upset Two Years In a Row

It was a disappointing result for the hosts as Greysia Polii and Nitya Krishinda Maheswari, who became the only local representatives in the final of the 2015 BCA Indonesia Open Superseries Premier, failed to deliver a title.  It means that hosts have been without a single title two years in a row.

The Indonesians had met and defeated two Chinese women’s doubles pairs, in the quarter-final and semi-final rounds.  But this time, Polii and Maheswari had to gave up at the hands of another Chinese pair, World Champion Tian Qing and her new partner Tang Jinhua (pictured), to finish with silver.

“We are grateful for our achievement in this tournament.  Whatever the outcome, we have given our best,” said Polii.

“This Chinese pair has more speed and they are good at attacking.  It meant our strategy could not run well,” said Polii about their defeat.  The pair from Indonesia explained that Tian/Tang changed the pattern of their game after the interval of the first game and attacked the Asian Games champions more en route to winning 21-11, 21-10.

First final, first title for World Champions

Being the only representatives from Korea in the final round did not make Ko Sung Hyun / Shin Baek Cheol (pictured) fear.  Nor did playing in their first Superseries final as a pair.  The 2014 World Champions managed to silence their opponents, Fu Haifeng / Zhang Nan in a match that lasted to three games and finished 21-16, 16-21, 21-19.

Since the first game, the fight was very tight.  Both pairs played very aggressively until the end.  Local supporters who watched the match, could not determine which pair should get their support, because both pairs on court really showed the makings of a champion pair.

For the Koreans, of course, it was very good news:  “Today’s match was very tight and somehow difficult, but my partner encouraged me, so that we could win our first Superseries Premier title,” said Shin Baek Cheol.

Meanwhile, this result was very disappointing for their opponents, who had beaten the Indonesia favourites in the semi-finals: “Today we were playing pretty well.  In the first game we lacked preparation, so we lost it.  Of course I am not satisfied with this result,” said Zhang Nan.

Revenge battle

Earlier, in the mixed doubles final, Zhang Nan had been unsuccessful too, as his compatriots Xu Chen / Ma Jin (pictured) won the title after defeating Zhang and Zhao Yunlei 21-17, 21-16.  In a match that lasted 46 minutes, Xu/Ma perform very aggressively until they had the title.

This victory in the final round becomes a motivation for Xu Chen / Ma Jin, because in each of their many previous meetings in the last four years, the #2 seeds had always lost when confronted with Zhang/Zhao.

“This victory is an appreciation for us to be able to play better in the future,” stated Xu Chen after the match.

“We are tired because in semi-final, we played in rubber games against host.  That was a tiring match,” said Zhao Yunlei.

Second career titles in singles

Like Zhang and Zhao, men’s singles defending champion, Jan.  O Jorgensen, failed to defend his title.  The victory last year over Kenichi Tago was avenged by another Japanese men’s singles player, Kento Momota (pictured).  Momota, after losing the first game, tried to play at his best in the second game to keep open the chance to take a title that was worth US$60,000.

“I said to myself, if I can win the second game then I will win this match,” said Momota at the press conference.  Momota managed to obtain the championship title after a one-sided deciding game, which he won 21-7.

Jorgensen was already leading 16-14 late in the second game but were very sorry to miss the point at critical situation.  “I am very disappointed.  I lost the momentum at point 19,” said said the 2014 Indonesia Open winner.

When Momota lead 19-18, Momota’s return was a little high above the net.  Jorgensen suddenly chopped at the shuttle but the referee declared it a fault, saying the shuttle had not crossed the net when the Dane hit it.

Last World Champion stands tall

The women’s singles final featured a match that was as beautiful as the players themselves.  Unfortunately, Japan’s Yui Hashimoto could not show her best performance.   She had, after all, reached the final after beating both the 2014 and 2011  World Champions.  The Japanese player made a lot of mistakes and ceded the match easily to 2013 World Champion Ratchanok Intanon (pictured) of Thailand, who kept on the attack until the match ended with scores of 21-11, 21-10.

“The match against Wang Yihan was very tiring and it finished late at night.  I was not in good performance after that,” Hashimoto said after the game.  She admitted having a bit of injury to her leg that impacted her movement.

“I said I could win and I did it,” said the 20-year-old champion, referring to a statement she had made in the press conference following her semi-final match.  Intanon, who lost to Hashimoto in the first round of the Australia Open last week, seemed to have learnt from her failure to not let it happen again.

“My dream is to be part of Olympic games so I’ll do my best and learn from the failure.  Yui is a talented player because she beat Carolina Marin and Wang Yihan in the previous rounds.  I have never beaten Yihan before,” Intanon said, adding that she felt at home when she was playing in Indonesia and it brought more confidence to her.

Final results
XD: Xu Chen / Ma Jin (CHN) [2] beat Zhang Nan / Zhao Yunlei (CHN) [1]  21-17, 21-16
WS: Ratchanok Intanon (THA) [6] beat Yui Hashimoto (JPN)  21-11, 21-10
MS: Kento Momota (JPN) [8] beat Jan O. Jorgensen (DEN) [3]  16-21, 21-19, 21-7
WD: Tang Jinhua / Tian Qing (CHN) [8] beat Nitya Krishinda Maheswari / Greysia Polii (INA) [6]  21-11, 21-10
MD: Ko Sung Hyun / Shin Baek Cheol (KOR) beat Fu Haifeng / Zhang Nan (CHN) [8]  21-16, 16-21, 21-19

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