MALAYSIA OPEN 2011 Day 2 – Wong refuses to Lu-se

More favoured women fell in the evening session of Day 2 at the 2011 Proton Malaysia Open Super Series as local hope Wong Mew Choo dealt the Chinese women’s team its only defeat and Japan continued to surprise.

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

Wong Mew Choo (pictured) was the heroine of Malaysia women’s singles in today round 32 as she knocked out Lu Lan 13-21, 22-20, 21-12. Coming back to win 22-20 in the second game was a tough one for Wong. In the final deciding game, Wong led 11-7 at the interval. After the break, the gap was getting bigger. Lu was getting more nervous and she kept on making mistakes.

Wong had 12 net winners to Lu’s 4 in the final game and finally she won 21-12 after a shaky start to be the only Malaysian women’s singles player to progress into round 16.   This on a day when all of Malaysia’s remaining mixed pairs fell, along with all but two women’s doubles pairs.

“Initially I never thought that I could win and I don’t think I played well today even I have won the match,” said Wong after her victory.  “However, I am very happy as I was able to draw level and win the second game. I fell behind for quite some points in the second game, but I just did whatever I could to catch up point by point.

“In the third game, Lu made a lot of mistakes and she must have been affected by this. I just tried to win as much as possible in the third game and tried not to let her win a point easily.”

More delight for Japan

Meanwhile, in the women’s doubles, Japan’s unseeded youngsters Misaki Matsutomo / Ayaka Takahashi (pictured) sprung a surprise as they defeated the 3^rd-seeded Duanganong Aroonkesorn / Kunchala Voravichitchaikul of Thailand.  Matsutomo/Takahashi played a superb game of attack and defense to overcome the Thais in the first game.  The Japanese ladies’ combination of power and sharpness in their smashes were one of the weapons they won with today. Aroonkesorn/Voravichitchaikul lost plenty of points from the smashes of the Japanese pair.

In the second game, Misaki/Ayaka were trailing 12-18 behind. However, impossible mission became possible mission as they used some drop shots and cross court smashes and, with Misaki playing well at the net for these six points, the Japanese pair leveled up at 18 all. After that, the Japanese pair reached their first match point 20-18 after a great comeback. Nevertheless, the Thailand pair pulled level at 20 all. At this crucial time, Misaki/Ayaka increased their speed after a controversial decision and soon wrapped up the match 21-12, 22-20.

“I am glad we could win because they are seeded 3rd in this tournament. We just tried to challenge them to the maximum. We are surprised we could come back from 12-18 down to 20-18 in the second game. I am very happy,” said Ayaka.

“We are hoping for a win tomorrow against Ha Jung Eun and Kim Min Jung. We lost to them badly two years ago in the Japan Open but we want to challenge them again tomorrow,” added Misaki.

Misaki Matsutomo, of course, was the girls’ singles runner-up at the World Junior Championship last year.  Asked why she is now focusing more on women’s doubles, Matsutomo told Badzine: “Because I want to focus on the Olympic Games next year. We hope to earn a place in the Olympics and my women’s doubles ranking is better than my women’s singles ranking.  So I don’t want to waste time focusing on two events.”

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