Jakarta: Japan’s world No. 1 Kento Momota moved serenely through to the second round of the Indonesia Open Tuesday with a 22-20, 21-14 win over Malaysia’s Daren Liew.
Momota will next meet China’s Huang Yu Xiang, who earned a 21-12, 21-13 first-round win over Netherlands’ Mark Caljouw.
The unseeded Lin Dan of China, however, was forced to dig deep before seeing off Jason Anthony Ho-shue of Canada 14-21, 21-16, 21-16 in 56 minutes. Lin will play No. 4 seed Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan on Thursday.
In men’s doubles, Malaysia’s World No. 10 pair Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik couldn’t break the jinx by losing to World No. 2 Li Jun Hui/Liu Yu Chen of China 19-21, 21-15, 21-9 for the fourth time in their career meeting. This was also Chia/Soh’s third defeat to Li/Liu in 2019.
The women’s singles competition saw World No. 1 and top seed Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan advanced to the second round with a 21-12, 21-18 win over Yeo Jia Min from Singapore. Tai will take on Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan next.
In an extremely intense women’s doubles opening match, Malaysia’s Vivian Hoo/Yap Cheng Wen were severely tested before securing a 22-20, 20-22, 22-20 win over India’s Ashwini Ponnappa/Reddy N. Sikki in a 75-minute battle. Hoo/Yap will face No. 6 seeds Lee So Hee/Shin Seung Chan of Korea in the second round.
Another Malaysian women’s doubles pair Chow Mei Kuan/Lee Meng Yean also made the second round by outlasting Yulfira Barkah/Jauza Fadhila Sugiarto of Indonesia 21-16, 21-16.
Meanwhile, Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing of Malaysia rallied from 16-20 down to best Lu Kai/Chen Lu of China 23-21 in the first set before claiming the second set 21-13 in the mixed doubles first round. They will set up a second round clash with No. 8 seeds Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Suet of Hong Kong.
