LI NING CHINA OPEN Day 2 - Seeds Suffer Shanghai Blues

Being the last Super Series of the year, the China Open started of with a day of upsets in Shanghai today. Denmark's heir apparent, Jan O Jorgensen, took a step closer to realising his dream of beating his very first Chinese when he outflanked Hong Kong champion Lee Chong Wei in three sets. Meanwhile, Chinese youngster Wang Shixian (pictured right) also managed to continue the string of upsets by defeating fifth-seeded Pi Hongyan in the women's singles.

By EeLyn Ooi, Badzine Correspondent. Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

Following the men’s and women’s singles events, world number 8 pair of Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthongkam reported themselves to the list of upsets after having the game slip into the hands of unseeded new Chinese kids on the block Tao Jiaming and Tian Qing in the mixed doubles event.

The 6th-seeded men's doubles pair of Alvent Yulianto Chandra / Hendra Aprida Gunawan then fell to their unseeded compatriots Bona Septano / Muhammad Ahsan in three games of 21-1, 22-24, 21-14. It was the younger pair's first victory in three attempts on their teammates, the most recent being last week in Hong Kong. Hong Kong's 8th-seeded Wang Chen completed the list of seeded casualties when she was swept aside 21-13, 21-8 by China's unheralded Li Xuerui in the women's singles event.

In fact, most seeded players advanced to the next round after barely surviving scares from their unseeded counterparts.

In the women's singles event, wherein the hosts boost a large pool of talent, China's Wang Yihan (top seed), Wang Lin (3rd seed) and Jiang Yanjiao (6th seed) were all taken to three games by Korea's Bae Seung Hee, Hong Kong's Yip Pui Yin and Thailand's Salakjit Ponsana respectively.

The 3 doubles events witnessed a similar sight. The 6th-seeded women's doubles pair of Tian Qing/Zhang Yawen edged out Korea's Kim Min Jung / Park Sun Young 21-16, 8-21, 21-15 while the men's doubles World Championship runners-up, Jung Jae Sung/Lee Yong Dae of Korea (seeded 2nd) outlasted their Japanese opponents Kenichi Hayakawa / Kenta Kazuno 22-20, 22-24, 21-11. Fellow second seeds in the mixed doubles, China's Zheng Bo / Ma Jin also took three games of 21-16, 15-21, 21-10 to dispose of England's Nathan Robertson / Jenny Wallwork.

Denmark's Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen had an easy win over locals Chen Zhiben and Shen Ye 21-12, 21-13 to add to the joy of the Danish camp. Jan O Jorgensen (pictured right) had gotten the ball rolling for the Danes when he knocked out top seed and world number 1 Lee Chong Wei 21-6, 13-21, 21-17.

The race to the Super Series Masters Finals has been shifted to top gear for the dashing young Dane, who stands a good chance of qualifying for the Finals in Johor Bahru following Indonesia's announcement that Simon Santoso and Sony Dwi Kuncoro will skip the Finals to concentrate on the preparation for the bi-annual SEA Games in Laos.

Elsewhere in the men's singles event, looking forward to an easier win after his nemesis got shooed, Lin Dan swept teammate Bao Chunlai off his feet and got himself a ticket to play another fellow countryman Chen Long to fight for a quarter-final ticket.

As is fashionable for the China Open, numerous walkovers were seen on the first day of the main draws and ironically, the culprits are mostly the locals. World #5 men's doubles pair of Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng showed indirect support to Guo Zhendong and Xu Chen by gifting them a walkover. While mixed doubles pair of Xie Zhongbo and Zhang Yawen also followed their footsteps allowing their juniors Chen Zhiben and Zhang Jinkang to take on qualifiers Lee Sheng Mu and Chien Yu Chin in the round of 16. Lee/Chien had trumped the green Chinese pair Chai Biao/Pan Pan in straight sets of 21-14, 23-21.

The interesting scratch combination of Candra Wijaya and Flandy Limpele (pictured left) were halted by Lee Sheng Mu and Fang Chieh Min of Taiwan. However, they may run out of luck in the round of 16 as they face-off against the 2008 Olympic Champions Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia, who took just 28 minutes to defeat locals Chai Biao / Zhang Nan in straight games 21-18, 21-14. Independent player Flandy Limpele also teamed up with Taipei's Cheng Wen Hsing in the mixed doubles, and will have a taste of Olympic champions Lee Yong Dae/Lee Hyo Jung in the round of 16, after the scratch Indo-Taipei combination outflanked Koreans Ko Hyun-Sung and Ha Jung-Eun 21-19, 21-14.

For full results of Day 2 of the 2009 Li Ning China Open Super Series, click CLICK HERE.

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