Aviva Open semi & final matches

Went to the Indoor stadium for the semis yesterday. The 2 matches I was particularly looking forward to was the indo vs indo mxd and candra/tony (indo) vs fu/cai (china), & both didn't dissappoint.

Mxd event was really exciting coz both pairs were definitely world class. Personally I favoured Flandy/Vita coz I saw how good flandy was (& the fact that he's left handed as well!), & only by watching him during warm up did I realize how talented he was. He probably has the most flexible wrist/strongest drive in the indo national team, & that is definitely the highest complement coz indo men's doubles have the reputation of being the strongest in drive & net play. Vita also played very well and was equal to her task of matching Lilyana, the strongest mxd woman in the world. Three set later, Flandy/vita were on their way to the final!

It was an easy kill in the final, as I've expected before the match. Their opponent was the impressive thai world no 3 pair of sudket/saralee, who has beaten world no 2 pair xie/zhang the day before. However, they very much depended on sudket's smashing at the back, and the indo pair plays the driving style. Flandy controlled the match thruout with his unconventional mxd play, and left the thai with no chance. Flandy/Vita are the champions in the category! I think they've much more to go as a new pairing, although Flandy is already 33 this year. Next aim: winning the Olympics!!

Men's doubles also lived up to its top billing. Candra/Tony has met Cai/Fu in the previous super series semis, and has lost on both occasions. They seemed to have more preparation this time, and Tony was back to his imperious best form, controlling the net and certainly worthy of his best player tag given to him a few years back. Candra was doing ok but definitely wasn't at his best. they won the 1st set and was on even ground with the chinese in the 2nd. However, they weren't able to close the set and let the chinese back into the game, losing 24-22. There was no way back for them in the rubber set, as they've used up their energy to focus on winning the 2nd set. The chinese won the 3rd easily, depriving me the chance of watching my idols play in the final =(

Credit has to be given to Fu/Cai though, coz their fighting spirit definitely served them well. They were also down 1 set in the final vs Choong/Lee (Malaysia), and almost lost the 2nd set after they saved 2 match points. In the rubber, they were down 15-6 and fought hard to win the game 21-18, when odds were stacked against them. Juz gotta give it to them for their perseverance, & truly worthy of their world no 1 ranking.

Indonesia Open is next & it starts tmr. Hopefully Indo can come out from its recent slump and start winning some titles. I'm betting Taufik for the MS, Nova/Lilyana for the MXD, and Candra/Tony for the MD. As much as I want to be optimistic about our chance in the women's, it looks like China is gonna dominate for at least another 2-3 years =( Hopefully we can unearth another Susi Susanti soon!

A day at the Aviva Open - Singapore Super Series (Part II)

Next up was the men's & women's singles. Chinese dominance in the women's singles can't be denied, coz there was hardly any non-chinese in the quarters, save for a danish chick called Tina Rasmussen. She gave Xie Xingfang a good fight, stretching her to a 3-setter, but I suspect that she hasn't switched out from 2nd gear in the whole match. I actually spotted chia chi's name on the website last night, and I thought that she was still in the quarters, so I waited at the warm up area to say hello. She wasn't there obviously, but my effort wasn't completely drained either, coz I was actually sitting just 2m away from all the players! haha maybe someone can imagine how stupid I had looked then, gushing like a small kid when a famous player walks past. Some of the faces I recognized was Peter Gade, Kenneth Johanssen (who played an excellent 3-setter match, won by Gade after he sped up his game towards the end, though temper did flare up and resulted in a yellow card for Kenneth midway thru), Lin Dan, Xie Xingfang, Pi Hongyan, etc etc.

Men's singles is always an exciting event, even more so if Taufik still remains in the draw. He was kicked out by Gade the day before though, and with it went my chance of seeing his legendary backhand =( Most exciting match was reserved, fittingly, for the final match of the day, Boonsak vs Lin Dan. In the 1st game Lin dan was evidently taking it slow, and predictably lost it. He took control of the 2nd game, and it went on to a 3rd set. Boonsak, the tricky player he is, matched Lin Dan point for point with his consistent display of cross court netting & stretching him left & right. Lin Dan responded with his trademark powerful overhead smash, & the game went into a tiebreaker. Owing to a mishit by Lin in the penultimate pt, Boonsak finally finished the game as winner after Lin Dan hit out a drive!

Most of my attention was focused on the men's doubles game of course, bcoz my idols were playing today. Candra & Tony looked really relaxed and chatted with indo fans, altho with my limited indo I really doubt my ability to strike up a meaningful conversation =( that didn't diminish my support for them obviously, and I'd definitely pick up my courage to ask them for their autograph tmr! That aside, they were playing against a korean pair, and Candra looked solid throughout, even taking over the role of net play normally done by Tony. Candra's drive shots has got to be the best in the circuit, even after his retirement from national team. the Koreans couldn't find their way thru him, and had to switch target to Tony. He wasn't as good as before when he could turn the match ard with the flick of his wrist, but he was still a joy to watch, contributing key net plays, although sometimes his defence did fail him, unlike candra's impregnable armor. Nevertheless, the true hallmark of a champion is that you can play badly and still beat most pairs in the world, and that is definitely what Tony/Candra are. No fuss, & 2 sets later, they are in the semis! Markis kido & hendra setiawan from indo also advanced after thrashing the m'sian pair who beat KKK & TBH, their teammate & 3 times super series champ, earlier. Indo has 2 pair in the semi, m'sia has 1 in choong tan fook/lee wan wah, & the other pair is Cai Yun/Fu Hai Feng of China.

I guess there's no need to mention women's doubles at all. As always, Chinese team sent a dozen participants in, and took probably 6 out of 8 spots in the quarters, & after rooting out the other 2 intruder pairs, it's an all chinese affair again. same boring story huuaaaahhhhh. Oh yeah perhaps it's better to mention the atmosphere created by the indo fans inside. It was really fantastic as we were the most opinionated crowd, and ended up influencing other neutral fans to support whoever we were supporting as well. Like in the case when we routed for Boonsak by shouting, 'boonsak, jia you!' haha it seems like we indos are the ABC (anyone but china) group.

Will update more later, so keep checkin' back for more baddie posts!

A day at the Aviva Open - Singapore Super Series (Part I)

This post is for all the baddie action-starved afficionados!

Hmm I guess it all started with my childhood dream of watching baddie stars in live action, coz believe it or not, I haven't watched any international baddie tourneys before, even though I've been playing it for more than a decade! Part of it was bcoz I was living in a small kampong before (though my idol Tony Gunawan did come & played at my club before coz his wife hails from my teeny-tiny hometown! Bad news though, coz I was studying at Singapore back then, so I missed the only chance to watch him in action =(

I arrived at Indoor stadium at 2, an hour early coz I wasn't aware that the event will only start later. Bought the tix and sat inside for a while b4 the chinese mixed-double team started coming in for warm up. The 1st person I recognized was Gao Ling, the uber-super doubles specialist who has won every single title in women's & mixed doubles! She was mucking ard with her left hand, & just for the record I had thought that she could probably beat me with that coz her driving was still impressive! A little later my fav indo mixed double team entered the stadium too, Nova & Lilyana + Flandy & Vita. Haven't actually seen them in live action before, & I only realised they were going to play the 2 chinese pairs inside earlier! Nova & Lilyana was impressive & dominant in the game against Zheng Bo/Gao Ling, dominating every rally and finishing them off rather easily, although the chinese pair has won the last 3 super series! Lilyana has got to be the best female player Indonesia has got, coz she takes initiative at the net really well, and also take smash like nobody's business. Nova was actually not that strong in attack (read: smash), but his shot placement made it hard for the chinese to respond, especially since they depended mostly on Gao Ling to win coz her partner's only strong point is his smashing. Flandy was even more impressive with his unconventional MXD style, and he has frightening backhand drive! There were many times he would catch the chinese pair of Zhang Jun/Zhao TT with his sudden backhand crosscourt drives and turned the match in his favour. They couldn't find the answer to deal with it, & plus that Vita was a notch up against Zhao TT at the net, it rounded up to be an easy win for the indos! Excellent result for us, coz we'd be guaranteed a pair in the final, as both indo pairs are scheduled to meet at tmr's semis!

Rounding up the MXD event semis are chinese pair xie zhongbo/zhang yawen & thai pair sudket & saralee, who will be meeting in the other semi...