PETALING JAYA: World number one Lee Chong Wei has only lost once to Indonesian Simon Santoso in his badminton career.
And the Malaysian has no intention of giving Simon the pleasure of winning again when they square off in the Macau Open semi-finals today.
Yesterday, both Chong Wei and Simon easily won their men’s singles quarter-final matches. Top seed and defending champion Chong Wei showed no mercy to South Korean youngster Shon Wan-ho, winning 21-16, 21-12 in 36 minutes.
Simon, the fourth seed, was even more clinical. He took only 23 minutes to blow away Hong Kong’s Wong Wing Ki 21-6, 21-5.
Malaysia's World number one Lee Chong Wei has only lost once to Indonesian Simon Santoso(pic) in his badminton career. And he has no intention of giving Simon the pleasure of winning again when they square off in the Macau Open semi-finals today.
Malaysia's World number one Lee Chong Wei has only lost once to Indonesian Simon Santoso(pic) in his badminton career. And he has no intention of giving Simon the pleasure of winning again when they square off in the Macau Open semi-finals today.
The other semi-final is between Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand and Lee Hyun-il of South Korea.
Chong Wei and Simon have met each other six times in the last three years. But in their last encounter at the Japan Open last year, Simon had the satisfaction of beating top seed Chong Wei 19-21, 21-15, 21-19 in the second round.
National chief coach Rashid Sidek said that it would be another close affair between the two players.
“On paper, Chong Wei is fancied to go through and I hope he will not under-estimate Simon,” said Rashid in a telephone interview.
“At the Japan Open last year, Chong Wei was troubled by his knee. He is in better condition now. Simon is also getting better.
“He reads Chong Wei’s game quite well and that is the reason their battles have been close affairs.
“But if Chong Wei is focused, he should make it. Besides, he knows he is the only Malaysian left in the competition and he does not want the team to go home empty-handed,” added Rashid.
The last two remaining Malaysian pairs in the women’s doubles were sent packing in straight games in the quarter-finals.
Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty again failed to get the better of Indonesians Meiliana Jauhari-Lilyana Natsir, losing 15-21, 15-21.
As for sisters Ng Hui Lin-Ng Hui Ern, they were beaten 15-21, 14-21 by third seeds Cheng Wen-hsing-Chien Yu-chin of Taiwan.
Quarter-final results:
Men’s singles: Simon Santoso (Ina) bt Wong Wing Ki (Hkg) 21-6, 21-5; Lee Chong Wei (Mas) bt Shon Wan-ho (Kor) 21-16, 21-12; Boonsak Ponsana (Tha) bt Sony Dwi Kuncoro (Ina) 21-17, 16-21, 25-23; Lee Hyun-il (Kor) bt Hsieh Yu-hsing (Tpe) 21-16, 21-15. Men’s doubles: Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan (Ina) bt Yoshiteru Hirobe-Kenta Kazuno (Jpn) 21-11, 21-16; Cho Gun-woo-Kwon Yigoo (Kor) bt Cheng Chung-jen-Lin Yen-jui (Tpe) 21-14, 21-15; Alven Yulianto-Hendra Gunawan (Ina) bt Patipat Chalardchalem-Thitipong Lapho (Tha) 21-15, 21-14; Ko Sung-hyun-Yoo Yeon-seong (Kor) bt Hiroyuki Endo-Kenichi Hayakawa (Jpn) 17-21, 21-14, 22-20.
Women’s singles: Cheng Shao-chieh (Tpe) bt Porntip Buranasertsuk (Tha) 17-21, 21-11, 23-21; Zhou Mi (Hkg) bt Ai Goto (Jpn) 21-12, 21-9; Adriyanti Firdasari (Ina) bt Eriko Hirose (Jpn) 21-17, 21-15; Li Xuerui (Chn) bt Wang Rong (Mac) 21-9, 13-21, 21-13.
Women’s doubles: Miyuki Maeda-Satoko Suetsuna (Jpn) bt Lee Kyung-won-Yoo Hyun-young (Kor) 21-13, 21-15; Zhang Dan-Zhang Zhibo (Mac) bt Cheng Hsiao-yun-Cheng Shao-chieh (Tpe) 21-19, 21-18; Meiliana Jauhari-Lilyana Natsir (Ina) bt Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty (Mas) 21-15, 21-15; Cheng Wen-shing-Chien Yu-chin (Tpe) bt Ng Hui Lin-Ng Hui Ern (Mas) 21-15, 21-14.
Mixed doubles: Hendra Gunawan-Vita Marissa (Ina) bt Mohd Rijal-Debby Susanto (Ina) 21-16, 21-19; Sudket Prapakamol-T. Saralee (Tha) bt Ko Sung-hyun-Ha Jung-eun (Kor) 22-20, 21-11; Fran Kurniawan-Pia Zebadiah Bernadet (Ina) bt A. Songphon-V. Kunchala (Tha) 21-12, 21-10; Tontowi Ahmad-Lilyana Natsir (Ina) bt Kwon Yigoo-Jang Ye-na (Kor) 21-16, 21-16.
Tue Aug 09, 2011 12:24 pm by 
Subject: Chong Wei’s sole loss to Simon will keep him awake in semis 
