KOREA GPG 2011 QF – Good Day, Korea!

After successful dispatch of their adversaries: two from Indonesia, one from China and another from Singapore, Korea assures itself that the 2011 Hwasun Victor Korea Open Grand Prix Gold mixed doubles medals are not crossing international borders.

By Emzi Regala. Photos (live): Don Hearn for Badzine.

Of the four, Singapore’s Danny Bawa Chrisnanta / Yu Yan Vanessa Neo, seeded 4th in this tournament provided the greatest resistance, taking the first set 21-15, to their favour.  Perhaps inspired by the wins of their compatriots, Ko Sung Hyun / Eom Hye Won took the next two games 21-17, 21-14 to book themselves a slot in what would be an All-Korean semi-final.

In the men’s singles quarter-finals, former world#1 and recently crowned 2011 Kumpoo Macau Open champion Lee Hyun Il (photo) got the better of the much younger shuttler Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto.  The 23 year-old Sugiarto failed to lift the spirit of the slumping Indonesian singles team when he lost in straight games, 13-21, 14-21 to the 3rd seeded Korean.

Lee Hyun Il faces Chen Jin of China in the semi-finals while another Korean Shon Wan Ho battles Malaysia’s Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif.

Hwasun will be treated to two semi-final appearances from both Ko Sung Hyun and Eom Hye Won and by both of their partners, in fact.  Eom and Jang Ye Na destroyed their compatriots in the last women’s doubles quarter-final to set up a semi-final against Japan Open champions Tang Jinhua / Xia Huan.

Then Ko Sung Hyun and partner Yoo Yeon Seong (photo) closed the final match of the day with a win over Indonesian pair Ricky Karanda Suwardi / Muhammad Ulinnuha 21,16, 21-18. The 2nd seeds could potentially forge a finals match against compatriots and world#2 Jung Jae Sung/Lee Yong Dae should they both bag another win at today’s semi-finals.  Those two pairs have met in the final for the past two years, when Korea’s fall event was a Grand Prix, and before that, an International Challenge.

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