The second event on the HSBC BWF World Tour, DAIHATSU Indonesia Masters 2020, has ended today in Jakarta.
The women’s doubles final kept us cliff-hanging as the two pairs competing against each other went into the third game. The Danish Maiken Fruergaard and Sara Thygesen have been incredibly successful this week. They managed to easily win their first round against England’s Birch/Smith, 21-14, 21-14, then beat number two seeded Fukushima/Hirota (JPN) after playing for 71 minutes, and won over Olympic champions Matsutomo/Takahashi (JPN), in two close games, 22-20, 22-20, to secure a spot in the final.
Now they were up for the difficult task of playing against home favourites Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu which they have faced on court a few times, and which, however, Thygesen/Fruergaard never managed to defeat before. The Danish pair won the first game 21-18, however failed to keep up their game in the second one and lost 11-21, but none of the pairs seemed to give in in the third game. After playing for 80 minutes, Thygesen/Fruergaard lost in a close game, 21-23.
It may not be the result Europe’s been hoping for, but it is definitely an important win for the Danish pair as this success will most likely get them closer to a spot at the Olympics.
Silver in the men’s singles
Another match that kept Europe in suspense was the men’s singles final. Denmark’s Anders Antonsen faced home favourite Anthony Sinisuka Ginting. Antonsen, who is currently ranked number three in the world, had a more or less difficult way through to the final, having to defeat Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto and Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie along the way, both in three games, and beat Hong Kong China’s Lee Chuck Yiu, in the semifinal, in straight games: 21-9, 21-14.
Antonsen was looking forward to playing against Ginting, since the Indonesian beat him not too long ago and now was the time to take revenge, however today was not the day. Anders Antonsen lost in three tight games, 21-17, 15-21, 9-21, after playing for 71 minutes.
“Defeats help us to learn and improve”
The Spanish superstar, Carolina Marin also leaves Indonesia with a silver medal. In today’s final of the Indonesia Masters, she was up against Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon. The two displayed an exhilarating match of three games. After playing for eighty minutes, Marin lost 19-21, 21-11, 18-21.
Although she lost, this doesn’t seem to set her back. “Defeats help us to learn and improve. New chance next week in Thailand!” wrote the badminton queen on her social media pages. The next tournament she is competing in is the Princess Sirivannavari Thailand Masters 2020 in Bangkok, where Marin is seeded number four and will play against Korea’s Kim Ga Eun in the first round.
Gold for the “minions”
The men’s doubles and mixed doubles finals, on the other hand, had quite predictable results.
The number one and two seeded Indonesian pairs, Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan played against each other for the gold. This time, the number one seeded pair won comfortably the 32 minutes match in two games, 21-15, 21-16.
In the mixed doubles, the two strongest Chinese pairs faced each other - again. Number one seeded Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong defeated their number two seeded compatriots Wang Yi Lyu/Huang Dong Ping in a short 25 minutes match, 21-9, 21-9. In 2019, the two pairs played against each other in five finals, including the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals. Wang Yi Lyu/Huang Dong Ping managed to beat their adversaries only one time, at the Fuzhou China Open.
Click here to see all results from finals day at the Indonesia Masters 2020.