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Pi Hongyan and Yao Jie strike again
October 18, 2001 - Source : IBF
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 Pi Hongyan and Yao Jie were two of the shining stars in recent Grand Prix events - Pi won the Germanand Yao Jie reached the Rutac Hollandfinal last weekend.
And yesterday, in the first round of the 6* Realkredit Denmark they beat two of the seeded players.
Lidya Djaelawijaya was probably happy to play a qualifier for a smooth first round. But when she realised that the so-called qualifier was none other than Yao Jie (pictured), who had just reached the final of the 2* Rutac Holland she must have grimaced. And indeed, the tiny Indonesian player had a tough day. Yao Jie took quick control in the match, and as usual, made her opponent run the four corners.
In just few minutes, the Chinese born Dutch player had shown the fifth seed Indonesian the door, 7/1, 7/2, 7/2. Yet Djaelawijaya wasn't the only lady to fall on this first day: so did Mette Sorensen. The Danish number two lost to Pi Hongyan, a Chinese playing in Denmark. In spite of a good start - Sorensen won the first game 7/3 - the Dane suffered from her lack of training over the past few weeks. A tight study schedule and a car accident this summer led her to practise less and eventually miss the National Training Centre preparation.
On the contrary, Pi Hongyan, was as fit as two weeks ago when she won the Germanin spite of a terrible start."I didn't play well in the first game, I didn't move her around enough, and she could stay in the middle of the court. But then I changed tactics and all went better. I feel quite good playing here, it feels like playing at home, as many of my training partners cheer for me," said Pi (pictured). The Chinese won 0/7, 7/4, 7/1, 7/1.
Pi is to meet Sweden's Marina Andrievskaya, who had to play five games to beat Ng Mee Fen of Malaysia. Julia Mann was also one of the casualties of the day, when she lost to Hu Ting, one of the young Chinese coming on strong. Zhou Mi, Zhang Ning and Camilla Martin all cruised to the second round.
Hashim brothers make it to third round
While Peter Gade - who had to withdraw because of a knee injury - was in the Farum Arena, meeting some of his friends or being challenged at computer games by his younger fans, Roslin and Muhamad Hafiz Hashim were on court, focusing on their match. And both secured their spot in the third round.
Roslin, former world number one, had quite a tough match against Kasper Fangel of Denmark. A very good start by the Dane provided him with the first game, but slowly, Hashim got back into the match and eventually won 4/7, 7/5, 7/4, 7/3. Yet the 26-years-old still feels the new scoring system, which had once provided him with a victory in the Swiss is not good for him. "I am the type of player who needs some time on court; In Switzerland, all players were still used to the 15 points system, and couldn't adjust quickly, but now, they have been playing for quite some tournaments now, and they know how to handle the change. Especially the young Chinese, who are very fast," said Hashim (pictured).
Talking of young Chinese, he will have to play against one as early as the next round: Chen Yu, survived a scare after trailing 2 games down and 0/4 against Rasmus Wengberg. But the Swede could never finish, while the young Chinese proved very strong mentally, taking high risks on jump smashes to save key points and win 5/7, 5/7, 7/5, 7/5, 7/3. The other Chinese, Chen Hong, Bao Chunlai and Lin Dan, also made it to the third round. Along with the Malaysians, who have 7 men still in the draw, China will be the country to watch.
Later on, Roslin's younger brother created an upset over the 12th seed Anders Boesen. Once again, Boesen had to go to a five gamer, but this time, a different ending than the previous day against Mark Burgess. Hafiz Hashim took things very quietly, and in spite of being led 3/5 in the last game, the tall Malaysian closed up 7/5, joining his brother in the third round.
Big guns cruise to the next rounds in doubles
The Chinese didn''t send their usual best teams in the women's doubles - it would have probably ended in a clean sweep from them, but instead, their singles players teamed up. One could be quite surprised to see Zhou Mi and Zhang Ning, respectively seeded first and second in the women's singles, playing together. But it proved to be efficient, as they beat Julie Houman and Karina Sorensen. Yet the first real challenge will come on Thursday, when they meet Gail Emms and Donna Kellogg from England.
In the men's doubles, all the big teams made it to the second round. Malaysians Chew and Chan (pictured) had quite a tough time against French team Laigle/Stojanov. They even lost 12 points in a row between the second and third games, but their experience made the difference on key points. Eng Hian and Flandi Limpele enjoyed a smooth start for their return to competition after quite a while on the sidelines. The two, unseeded after they stopped competition following the World Champs beat Danish pair Jesper Christensen and Thomas Hovgaard. Christensen probably regrets his partnership with Larsen, which led the pair to win the Dutchlast week - Larsen was back with his usual partner Jens Eriksen, for an smooth first round victory.
On court now....
Results:
Men's Singles (top half)
Men's Singles (bottom half)
Men's Singles Qualifying
Women's Singles
Women's Singles Qualifying
Men's Doubles
Men's Doubles Qualifying
Women's Doubles
Mixed Doubles
Report and pictures by Raphael Sachetat
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Other news:
» Hafiz to take three-week break
» Memories of… the 2002 Thomas and Uber Cup Finals
» Gopi to lead India in Commonwealth Games
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