INDONESIA OPEN 2015 R16 – Local hero comes forth, fourth goes out

Three fourth seeds left the competition Thursday at the BCA Indonesia Open Superseries Premier.  Tai Tzu Ying was beaten by Indonesia’s world #36 Lindaweni Fanetri.

By Naomi Indartiningrum, Badzine correspondent live in Jakarta.  Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

Surprise upon surprise happened in the second stage of main draw action at the 2015 BCA Indonesian Open Superseries Premier as Indonesia’s unseeded shuttlers created a sensation by defeating seeded shuttlers.  There had been plenty of surprises already in the men’s singles but Lindaweni Fanetri (pictured) began to shake things up in the women’s singles event as well, with another surprising result.  As had her compatriot Anthony Ginting earlier in the day, the unseeded Fanetri managed to beat the fourth seed, in this case Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei.

Running a tight match from the very beginning, Lindaweni’s patience earned her the first game 21-18.  Although she maintained the advantage into the second game, the Indonesian team stalwart began to lag behind, allowing Tai Tzu Ying (pictured bottom) to surge ahead to 13-9.

Lindaweni Fanetri was not about to give up so easily, however.  With full support from all the spectators who attended Day 3 in the fabled Istora Senayan in Jakarta, the world #36 slowly managed to catch up and even evened things out at 19-19.  Luckily for the Indonesian, the world’s #4 lost her focus and gifted four points in a row by her own errors to allow Fanetri back into the second game.  Linda closed the match with a score of 22-20 and with the victory goes through to the quarter-finals, where she will join her team-mate, Maria Febe Kusumastuti (pictured right).

Linda said that it is not easy to beat seeded players like Tai Tzu Ying: “Her ranking is higher than me so in this match I had to be sure to not lose my focus.  If I lose my focus, my lead will be erased just like in the beginning pf second game.  After leading by 9-6, I was caught by her.  I tried to quicken the tempo at first, I did not want to lose for not being quick enough because my opponent is very fast and her attacking is very good,” said Lindaweni after the match.

This sweet victory brings Linda to meet the former World Champion from Thailand, Ratchanok Intanon.  The sixth seed reached the quarter-finals after beating her compatriot, Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-16, 21-19. Kusumastuti, meanwhile, is up against Yui Hashimoto, the one responsible for the reigning World Champion’s early exit in Jakarta.

Click here for complete Thursday results