INDONESIA OPEN 2016 Day 3 – Chinese men stand strong

Of the four Chinese men who advanced to the men’s singles second round at the Indonesia Open, Wang Zhengming had to work the hardest, edging out Hans-Kristian Vittinghus in three thrilling games.

By Mathilde Liliana Perada, Badzine Correspondent live in Jakarta.  Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

After the withdrawal by the injured Chen Long, all the Chinese men’s singles who performed in the first round of Indonesia Open 2016 booked their names in the next round.  Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (pictured bottom), who had scored the deciding point in Denmark’s Thomas Cup victory, felt disappointed about his performance in Jakarta on Wednesday.  He made lots of unforced errors while the score was so close to and he dropped the match to rival Wang Zhengming (pictured above) 21-18, 23-25, 22-24.

“It was a very close match.  I feel like I had my chances to win but I was struggling very hard with my serve today and also committed many unforced errors,” said Vittinghus.  “But really my serve was the main issue and reason why I lost.  It cost me five or six points in each game, which too much when the score is so close.”

Lin Dan, who has a history of bad luck when playing in Indonesia, is looking forward to facing home favourite Jonatan Christie in the second round: “I don’t know why but it has never been easy playing here,” said Lin Dan.  He had to play three games in his match against Zulfadli Zulkiffli of Malaysia but still closed the deciding game out 21-16.

“He was very good.  He played very well in the first game while I was not in the good form,” Lin Dan added about the rival.

Lin Dan’s compatriot Huang Yuxiang will face another host representative, Ihsan Maulana Mustofa today.  Yuxiang went to the second round after Viktor Axelsen retired while trailing 4-8 in the third game.  In fact, Huang was the only Chinese men’s singles shuttler who didn’t play a full three games as Tian Houwei (pictured) won the longest match of the day, beating Korea’s Lee Dong Keun in 74 minutes.

Click here for complete Wednesday results