Yonex Australia Open 2011 Semi Finals

Update: It was an exciting event, you can read the highlights for the Yonex Australia Open 2011 Finals here.

With the main stars and the Australian mixed doubles pair knocked out, we thought the crowd support would dwindle down a little today, and so we thought. The atmosphere in the stadium today just got better!

Among the big matches in the semi finals were:

• The young Indonesian who defeated Boonsak (no.1 seed for MS), Tommy Sugiarto (INA) vs Wong Choong Hann, the 1998 Commonwealth Gold Medallist.
• Current World Champion, Wang Lin (CHN) vs Porntip Buranaprasertuk (THA) , runner up for the 2009 World Badminton Junior Championships.
• WS no.1 seed Liu Xin (CHN) vs Ratchanok Inthanon (THA) , who won the first World Championship title for Thailand in 2009.

Tommy Sugiarto v Wong Choong Hann

Young Tommy Sugiarto, who was able to sweep past Boonsak Ponsana yesterday, showed great levels of fitness and endurance. However, the young Indonesian failed to edge out former world no.2 Wong Choong Hann (MAS).

Tommy is a talented and agile player brought up by his father Icuk Sugiarto, former Indonesian badminton legend, but Choong Hann’s experience in professional badminton managed to shake off Tommy’s attacks and high fitness levels.

In the semi finals today, Choong Hann performed some magical touches which Tommy was not able to handle at all. Among the few brilliant skills performed by Choong Han was the cross court badminton jump smash with absolute precision. It was clear that this affected Tommy’s mental strength as he was not able to retrieve most of Choong Hann’s cross court smashes.

A rubber game was not even needed when Choong Hann proved that professional experience is far more valuable than fitness and agility. The game ended at 21-16, 21-19, with Wong Choong Hann marching on to the Yonex Australia Open 2011 Finals.

Wang Lin v Porntip

Wang Lin, cheered on by the huge crowd of supporters in the stadium could not keep up with Porntip’s pressure. The current world champion failed to defend against some of Porntip’s strong attacks.

The Thai player’s extraordinary footwork allowed her to defend against most of Wang Lin’s shots. Some of Porntip’s jump smashes were as powerful as the men!

Wang Lin was the one who actually worked harder to return the shuttles.

Porntip started off weak with Wang Lin leading. I guess everyone expected the world champion to win again, but Porntip managed to prove us wrong, with surprise!

The game ended at 14-21, 22-20, 21-17.

Liu Xin v Ratchanok

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

The no.1 seed for WS, Liu Xin, had demonstrated her worth for the finals. Ratchanok is only 20 years old, and was the first Thai player who won a World Junior Championship title in 2009, and she definitely possesses the qualities to be at the international level. Ratchanok took a victory at the first game convincingly at 21-15. The second game was very competitive but Liu Xin was able to force the Thai to a rubber game.

However, Liu Xin had slammed the umpire and line judges during the match as she demonstrated her frustration. A heated dispute with between Liu Xin and the umpire disrupted the game. The crowd clearly was not amused by Liu Xin’s behaviour and was constantly being jeered during the middle of the third game. However, Ratchanok might have let this situation influence her game as she started to make a series of unforced errors. Liu Xin might have managed to psychologically influence the young and less experienced Thai player.

Unfortunately for Ratchanok, Liu Xin will be competing in the finals. The score for this match was 15-21, 21-20, 21-12.

Other Matches

There were no surprises in other matches, but Sho Sasaki was given a scare when Yan Kit Chan beat him in the first set, but the Japanese player bounced back with 2 impressive wins.

Japanese mixed doubles pair Shintaro Ikenda and Reiko Shiota who edged out Australia in the previous round were swept away by Songphon Anugritayawon and Kunchala Voracichitchaikul. Malaysian women’s doubles pair Eei Hui Chin and Pei Tty Wong had a tough match, but managed to pull off a win against Lok Yan Poon and Ying Suet Tse of Hong Kong.

Yonex Australia Open 2011 FINAL

This is your last chance to witness professional shuttlers across the world. Today will decide who will take the Australian Open title home this year.

Porntip has deservedly proceeded to the finals after defeating current world champion Wang Lin but her team mate Ratchanok has been eliminated by Liu Xin from China, so it will be Liu Xin vs Porntip in the finals! Can Liu Xin produce a victory over young Porntip this time?

Wong Choong Hann from Malaysia will be challenging Sho Sasaki for the MS title. Can skill and experience win a title for Malaysia or will Sho defeat Choong Hann with his consistent and powerful shots?

As for WD, it will be Chin/Wong (MAS) vs Matsuo/Naito (JPN) . Malaysian doubles team are famous for the solid defences whereas the Japanese are fast and aggressive. Can speed and power from Japan break through the solid defences of the Malaysian doubles team in the Finals tomorrow?

You can be assured the FINALS of the Yonex Australia Open 2011 will be fuelled with fire as players will fight till the end. We expect the stadium to be full in the finals. As usual, tickets are available at the entrance.

Check out the event program for more details and we hope to see you there in the finals!