MALAYSIA OPEN 2011 Day 2 – Simon upsets Du Pengyu

Both Simon Santoso and Du Pengyu had a tough task in hand as their first round match in the 2011 Proton Malaysia Open Super Series was their first meeting, but it was the Indonesian who would take the initial lead in their head-to-head record.

By Lee Suet Yan, Badzine Correspondent live in Kuala Lumpur. Photos: Yves Lacroix for Badmintonphoto (live)

Of the two, only Simon Santoso has ever won a Super Series tournament.  But that was then and now, Du Pengyu is the one knocking on the door of the world’s top 10, having already played in the Super Series Finals earlier this month.  However, Du could not replicate his first round form he showed at last year’s Malaysia Open, where he upset Park Sung Hwan for an auspicious start to 2010.

Both players played very conservatively in the first game until Du led 17-16. Du thought that Simon was going to play at the net, so he ran to the net, getting caught out of position as Simon surprised him with a push to the baseline. But, it was a bit lucky for Du as the shuttle sent long by Simon, giving Du a two-point advantage. Du, who had relied on a lot of diving to retrieve Simon’s attacking today, converted the first game 21-19.

Simon totally controlled the second and third games. He lead 11-6 in the second game, but then won a blistering ten consecutive points after the interval and forced a rubber game. Du has made a lot of silly mistakes in the second game and a few misjudgments that caused Du gave the second game to Simon. Even when Simon was at 20-6, Du’s misjudgment at the baseline gave the second game to Simon.

In the deciding game, Du was totally lost, unable to return most of the smashes hit by Simon.  Du’s bad luck in the second game continued in the third game as he was still unable to reduce his mistakes. Simon had a few nice attacks with fast smashes at steep angles.  His quick movements combined with his powerful straight and cross court jump smashes gave him the victory. Although Du relied on diving to retrieve Simon’s attacking shots, but he was still not fast enough to save the second one.  Simon progressed into the second round and will most probably face Chen Jin in tomorrow’s round of 16.

“I made fewer mistakes than him today and I was able to control the second and third games after the defeat in the first game” Said Simon.  “The wind problem is one of the factors in my first game loss and my target for this year is to try not to exit so early in the early rounds.”

For complete results from Day 2 of the 2011 Proton Malaysia Open Super Series, CLICK HERE