INDONESIA MASTERS Finals – Big joy for home crowd

What a delightful day for Indonesia where their aces Greysia Polii / Apriyani Rahayu finally got a women’s doubles title at home, to go with Sukamuljo & Gideon’s Indonesia Masters hat-trick.

Story: Naomi Indartiningrum, Badzine Correspondent live in Jakarta
Photos: Jnanesh Salian / Badmintonphoto (live)

Indonesia’s only top ten women’s doubles pair, Greysia Polii / Apriyani Rahayu (pictured top), picked up their first Super 500 title in over 9 month, as they captured the glory at the 2020 Indonesia Masters.  They won after coming out on top of a tight three-game duel in the final.

Polii/Rahayu faced Maiken Fruegaard / Sara Thygesen (pictured right) in the final held at Istora Senayan on Sunday.  After losing the first game, the Indonesians finally won 18-21, 21-11, 23-21 after playing one hour and 20 minutes.

In the first game, Polii/Rahayu’s trailed the Danes throughout.  Even though they did manage to even the score at 17-all, the #8 seeds had to cede defeat in the first game.  Then after taking an 11-8 lead at the second game interval, they stepped up the pace and won six points in a row as they ended up dominating the second game.

“In the first game, I was so nervous and our opponents were in a good shape since they had already beaten some top level pairs.  In the second game, we tried to turn things around, and finally we were able to take the lead to win the second game,” said Polii after the match.

In the deciding game, it was a critical position for the home pair once the Danes reached match point first at 20-19.  However, Polii/Rahayu were able to save it and continue to win three points in a row to lock in the title.

“Thank God we were able to win the match.  To be honest, we were very tired.  It’s still amazing that we can win this title for the first time in Istora.  We feel very special to have become the champions here.  This championship is not just for us, but for Indonesia, for coaches, and for women’s doubles,” Polii said with a big smile.

“I did not expect this win,” added Rahayu.  “I looked back to last year when we were really down: How do we want to get out of our problems?  How can we become champions?  And thank God we could give the best in our own homes.”

Unbeatable Zheng/Huang got the hat-trick

In the opening match on finals day at the Indonesia Masters, the unbeatable Zheng Siwei / Huang Yaqiong (pictured right) once again defended their title.  The world rank #1 pair got an easy win from their compatriot, Wang Yilyu / Huang Dongping in a pair of 21-9 games and continued their streak of being named mixed doubles champions in every edition of this event as a Super 500 tournament.

Huang Dongping (pictured below), who was sick for the last 2 days, couldn’t show her best performance meanwhile her opponents were in peak condition, as evidenced in the scoreline.

“At first, everything was okay but then after winning our match against the Adcocks, I began to feel pain,” explained Huang Dongping after the final.

This victory is the 13th victory of the top-seeded pair over Wang/Huang.  In the previous 14 meetings, had Zheng/Huang lost a mere 2 times.

Indonesia Master 2020 is also a hat-trick for Zheng/Huang.  They won the first Indonesian Masters title in 2018 and the second in 2019, defeating top-seeded Tontowi Ahmad / Liliyana Natsir in their farewell match.

“Incidentally this year we were able to show our best performance, to be able to win this tournament for the third time.  I am also pleased with the enthusiasm given by supporters here, which is extraordinary,” said Zheng Siwei in delight.

Sukamuljo & Gideon get an even louder hat-trick!

Following the trend set by Zheng and Huang, it was Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo / Marcus Fernaldi Gideon (pictured right), known affectionately by their fans as the “Minions”, who also picked up their third Indonesia Masters title in as many years.

In a repeat of last year’s final match, Sukamuljo/Gideon once again meet their compatriots Hendra Setiawan / Mohammad Ahsan (pictured below) on Sunday to decide who would claim the title.  Just like the previous meetings, Sukamuljo/Gideon beat their veteran team-mates, this time taking it in straight games.

The “Minions” didn’t find any difficulties when facing the “Daddies” – as Setiawan/Ahsan are known to their fans – since they always initiate the attack and keep their consistency for the whole match.  Setiawan/Ahsan tried to change their strategy in the second game but still seemed far from having a path to beating the younger pair.

“We immediately put pressure on our opponents,” said Sukamuljo after the match.  “In the second game, they changed their game strategy  and we made our own mistakes and missed a few points.

“The key to our victory was staying consistent.  Even though we lost a lot of points, we tried to be consistent so we didn’t lose a lot more,” he added.

With this achievement, Sukamuljo/Gideon accomplished their mission to defend the title and took the Indonesia Masters crown for the third time in a row.  Well done, Minions!

Final results
XD:  Zheng Siwei / Huang Yaqiong (CHN) [1] beat Wang Yilyu / Huang Dongping (CHN) [2]  21-9, 21-9
WS:  Ratchanok Intanon (CHN) [4] beat Carolina Marin (CHN)  21-19, 11-21, 21-18
MD:  Marcus Fernaldi Gideon / Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (INA) [1] beat Mohammad Ahsan / Hendra Setiawan (INA) [2]  21-15, 21-16
WD:  Greysia Polii / Apriyani Rahayu (INA) [8] beat Maiken Fruergaard / Sara Thygesen (DEN)  18-21, 21-11, 23-21
MS:  Anthony Ginting (INA) [7] beat Anders Antonsen (DEN) [4]  17-21, 21-15, 21-9

Click here for complete results