Looks like Lee Chong Wei has managed to end his title drought after winning the Indonesia Open this past week. Lee beat the Bambi-like Bao Chunlai in the finals 21-15, 21-16. Along the way Lee also defeated Chen Hong in the semis and Bao defeated Taufik Hidayat. Taufik had been hoping to break Ardy Wiranata’s record of most Indonesia Open titles (I think it is 6), but Bao ended those hopes.

In the men’s doubles it was Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng who managed to take back to back titles by defeating surprise finalists Latif and Tazari from Malaysia. Cai and Fu defeated Malaysian superpair Koo and Tan in the semis.

Wang Chen stunned the Chinese women by winning the women’s singles, but that would be the only title that China would fail to win.

Super Series Results Page

Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana has won the 2007 Singapore Open. That wasn’t what I was expecting at all. I know Boonsak is a respectable player, but I really did not think he would win. His quarter-final win over Lin Dan was extremely clutch, winning 21-17, 7-21, 23-21. From there it was smooth sailing as he knocked off hometown favourite Ronald Susilo and then Chen Yu in the final, both matches were not particularly close either. I had predicted a Gade vs Lin Dan final, but both players failed me. Gade lost yet again to Chen Yu, as he did in Denmark earlier this year. I get the feeling like Gade is getting to a point in his career where he needs to really start picking his tournaments, much like Taufik. He doesn’t have that same ability he used to, where he could play at his best all year round. Although, with the new Super Series structure I’m not sure even Lin Dan can do that anymore.

Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng won the men’s doubles. The real big disappointment to me was Gunawan and Wijaya losing to them in the semi-finals. China really isn’t that strong in the doubles usuallly, but they have a pair that can really do damage again. It’s been a while since they had this, and I don’t see their second string doubles players filling in the void either, so they had better enjoy it while it lasts.

As for the women’s doubles and singles, I couldn’t be more bored by the constant domination by China. I have a load of respect for their team, not so much for the rest of the world though. It’s like having a whole team of Williams sisters just kicking everyones asses(back when they were good), but not really trying that hard against each other, or defaulting regularly based on what the coach says. Zhang Ning beat Xie Xingfang, and then Zhang Yawen and Wei Yili won the doubles.

The mixed doubles does offer some surprises from time to time, but I don’t really enjoy mixed all that much. Indonesia’s Flandy Limpele and Vita Marissa won that event.

The Indonesia Open is up next, but also this coming week here in Canada we have the U19 and U23 Nationals going on, and there is a good chance we will be down to watch, and might even take our cameras along to catch the finals. We will keep you posted.

Super Series Results Page

2007 Singapore Open Official Website

Peter Gade easily defeated Taufik Hidayat in the second round of the 2007 Singapore Open. The first game was close with Gade winning 21-18, but the second was much quicker at 21-12. Gade will now play his fellow Dane, Kenneth Jonassen in the quarter-finals. I knew Gade would take this match, Taufik just can’t be bothered to really try unless it is a really big event like Worlds or Olympics, unless he is playing Indonesia Open. Wong Choong Han is also doing well after beating Japan’s Shoji Sato. Now he plays Chen Yu in the quarter-finals. Hopefully he won’t have to go through qualifying eventually, cause he has had a lot of decent results in the Super Series.

On the other side of the draw there were some surprises with Hafiz Hashim, Chen Jin and Sony Dwi Kuncoro all losing to Boonsak Ponsana, Kendrick Lee and Ronald Susilo respectively. Chen Jin losing is a really big surprise to me, he is usually quite clutch. At this stage I think I can predict a Lin Dan vs Peter Gade final. These two seem to be quite strong this week, but who knows, cause the Super Series seem to be full of surprises.

In the men’s doubles my favourites Gunawan and Wijaya just crushed their opponents Guo and Xie 21-14, 21-7 to book their quarter-finals spot. They will likely have to play China’s Cai and Fu in the semi-finals. It’s too bad they couldn’t be on the other side of the draw, I think these are the two strongest teams at this tournament. Anyway, more on the 2007 Singapore Open tomorrow. Oh ya, almost forgot, China is killing everyone in the women’s events, and also have three pairs remaining in the mixed doubles. How unpredictable!

Super Series Results Page

2007 Singapore Open Official Website

Malaysia�s Lee Chong Wei has continued his sucking streak as he lost first round in Singapore to his teammate Hafiz Hashim. Hafiz won the match in three really close games, 16-21, 21-18, 22-20!! Another surprise was the loss of Chen Hong to Indonesia�s Sony Dwi Kuncoro. Kuncoro really hasn�t had many big wins since the early days of his career, but it should be kept in mind that Chen Hong has announced his retirement, and might be gone pretty soon.

(Lee Ponders His Sucking)

Now the big match to watch will be Peter Gade against Taufik Hidayat. This should be an interesting match up. These guys haven�t played each other in a long time, so it�s hard to predict. Plus Taufik is impossible to predict in terms of whether he will even try or not. He went three games in the first round against some unknown Malaysian. My pick is Gade, simply because this isn�t a big event, and Taufik rarely seems to care except when he has picked a particular tournament as his target. Just watch, next Olympics he will be unseeded, and end up knocking out Lin Dan first round or something.
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The fifth super series event is set to start May 1st (Tuesday) and once again it looks like this super series is going to provide some kick ass action. I won�t go into too much detail about my opinions about the super series right now, other than to say it is way better than before in my opinion. Including the scoring system.

The biggest early round show down will of course be between Peter Gade and Taufik Hidayat who are drawn to play in the second round. The BWF Super Series page said the following �NEWLY crowned Asian champion Taufik Hidayat faces the prospect of crossing swords with Denmark’s Malaysian Open champ Peter Gade Christensen in the second round of the men’s singles of the Singapore Open on May 1-6.� Now, I might not have used �crossing swords� as my analogy, but nonetheless it will be an exciting match.

Another big match to watch will be between Lee Chong Wei and Hafiz Hashim both from Malaysia. How much does that suck for the Malaysian team? Your two best players drawn to play each other first round, and Roslin doesn�t even get entered!? Obviously moving the BWF offices to Malaysia hasn�t earned them any favours for the draws.

Of course the mens doubles should also be extremely exciting. It has been the other event that has seen considerable improvement for the overall level of the game. Even teams like Blair and Clark from England are starting to put on some good performances. Of course my favourite team is Gunawan and Wijaya after spending some time with Tony in North Carolina.

Stay tuned as we bring you commentary on the tournament coming up next week.