YONEX OPEN JAPAN 2007




	9/16	決勝戦の様子を掲載
	9/15	準決勝の様子を掲載
	9/14	準々決勝の様子を掲載
	9/13	2回戦の様子を掲載
	9/12	1回戦の様子を掲載













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News & Topics

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Sep 13th 3rd day of YONEX OPEN JAPAN 2007
The 3rd day of the Tournament Every player fought hard 2nd stage of the tournament aiming best 8 places. Mixed doubles, appeared M.Maeda & K.Masuda , who won the first game yesterday. They contested against Thoungthonkam & Prapakamol(Thailand),winner of 2005 Yonex Open Japan. 1st game started with Thailand pair's leading till 10-8. In the middle of game, Maeda patiently returned strong smashes of Thailand pair, that made it possible for Masuda shoot his strong shots and finally Japanese pair won the game at 22-20. 2nd game also became so tight and Japan kept leading to 16 points, but Thailand pair fought hard to catch up finally to win this game at 22-20. Final game, Japan started leading to 8-4, but Thailand caught up at 12-12 and won the match including 8 successive points at 21-15. Maeda & Masuda played a very good one although regrettably they could not win the match.
Mens singles, Lin Dan, China, 1st seeded and world 1st ranker, also 2 times winner in row at world championship, aims 3 times in row winner in this tournament. He contested against Roslin Hashim of Malaysia, He won the 1st game easily with his high skill in net play and racket work. But 2nd game Hashim pulled up his speed and made good placement of cross cut and reverse cut. Hashim got points by pushing Lin Dan's weak returns. Hashim won this game at 21-18, with Lin Dan's smash crossed out. Final game , Lin Dan recovered his own play and concentration. He used strong jumping smashes first time in this match and won at 21-11. As to tomorrow match with Peter Gade, he only left brief message "I will do my best."
Peter Gade, Denmark won at 2-1 against Wei Ng, Hong Kong who won Japanese young K.Tago yesterday. 1st game Gade lead through the game using cross smashes effectively to fore side of Ng and won at 21-9. 2nd game, Ng started leading but Gade caught up at 12 points and won at 21-18 too. He said strongly "I wish to show the power of Europe. This is the good chance to catch up with the Asian power."
In the category of Women’s Singles, Ning Zhang of China, ranked 1st in the world, played against Tracey Hallam of England. Although Zhang lost in the 3rd round of the World Championships in Malaysia, she is already a two-time winner of this particular tournament, and is hoping to win it for the third time. The first game started in Zhang’s favor as she placed perfect shots in the very corners of the court in order to throw Hallam off balance. Zhang quickly took the game at 21-11 and continued to lead in the second game. Although many people thought the second game would end similar to the first, Hallam began to adjust to Zhang’s speed and build her points up to 11-11. Hallam used her powerful smashes to take the lead at 18-17 but Zhang stayed on her toes and won 23-21. Though she won the match, Zhang stated “My plays were not as consistent as I had wanted it to be.”
The only Japanese Women’s Singles player to enter the second round was Yu Hirayama. Her opponent was Lan Lu of China, seeded 7th in this tournament. Hirayama was having trouble over the fact that Lu had long arms and legs and had a better reach through out the court. It seemed that Hirayama would attempt to switch her plays to a more offensive style by driving a low clear to Lu’s forehand but Lu easily took the point by returning a quick and steep cross drop. The first game ended 20-9 but Hirayama switched her tactics after the interval and stayed close to Lu till 12-10. Lu began to extend the length of the rallies and took her time to find that one shot to finish each point. The match ended 21-14 and Hirayama later quoted “I was not able to play my very best because I was very nervous. From now on, I would like to aim for the top 8 in Super Series tournaments.”
Shunichi Sakamoto & Shintaro Ikeda, Japanese hope in this tournament went through to the best of 8 in the Men’s Doubles by wining 2-1 against Jens Eriksen & Martin Lundgaard Hansen, No.5 seed, Danish duo. In the beginning the first game, Sakamoto & Ikeda lost continuously 6 points in a row and consequently bowed to Danes 17-21. Ikeda during the game, wondered how he had been doing by shaking his head. However in the second game, Japanese pair started to come back to their original form by receiving strong smashes from the ceiling and succeeded in taking the controle of the net. Japanese took the second game 21-13. The final game was such a breath taking one especially when the points moved from 19-19 to 21-20 match point to Danish pairs. Japanese pair then equalized to 22-22 then finalized the game at 24-22 to win the match. Both team looked a little bit nervous as the game matures because the rally did not last more that 5 strokes after 20-20, however they were not “the unforced errors” anyway. Sakamoto & Ikeda already very much look forward to playing with Tony Gunawan & Candra Wijaya.

Well done! Keita & Tadashi Keita Masuda & Tadashi Ohtsuka displayed their fantastic performance before the packed Japanese funs by beating World Silver medalist, Jung Jae Sung & Lee Yong Dae of Korea. After the match Masuda and Ohtsuka expressed their joy of victory from all their faces with big smiles. They were onlt able to receive interviews sitting chairs though. The Japanese duo will meet up with World Champion in Kuara Lumpur in August, Kido Markis & Setiawan Hendra of Indonesia tomorrow.

In Women’s Doubles, Kumiko Ogura and Reiko Shiota had a difficult match against Jung Eun Ha and Min Jung Kim of Korea. In the first game, Ha and Kim had trouble attacking because Ogura and Shiota had a very stable defense. The first game ended 21-9 and Japan was going at a very favorable pace. In the second game, Korea picked up their game and took the lead at 17-13. Ogura and Shiota stayed calm and steady as the slowly caught up with a mixture of steady smashes, drops and clears. Japan was not able to catch up in time, and lost 21-19. In the final game, Ha kept her play style offensive by continuing a series of smashes and drives as Ogura kept the bird in play with her strong defensive skills. At the final interval, Korea took the lead 11-9 and changed ends. Kim and Ha took advantage of the wind within the arena and forced Ogura and Shiota to hit out in the back. “Korea stayed very consistent as they picked up every shot placed throughout the court. It was difficult to maintain our own steady game under such pressure” claimed Ogura after the match. In the end, Kim and Ha put an end to the match by set full effort into the last point to win the game and match at 21-19. Shiota later stated “I wanted everyone of Japan to see us play China but I’m sorry we can’t show that. There are other Japanese athletes still competing in the tournament and I would like for everybody to cheer them on.”

Tournament Outline