It wasn’t the best of days for Indonesia’s men’s singles as two home contenders fell in the opening round of the KAPAL API Indonesia Open 2024.
Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, runner-up here last year, was at a loss for words after he was outplayed 17-21 21-11 21-8 by Kenta Nishimoto, which followed his second round loss at the Singapore Open 2024 last week.
“I don’t know what happened, actually,” said Ginting. “I cannot think right now. Maybe my performance at the last tournament affected me. I just tried to focus on getting my performance back, but it didn’t go well.”
Earlier in the day Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo’s recent spell of poor form continued as he was shown the door by Kantaphon Wangcharoen, 21-16 21-9.
The Thai broke a sequence of seven straight first round losses with an unexpectedly quick result over Wardoyo, who has yet to display the flair that saw him make the semifinals of the YONEX French Open 2024 in March.
“It gives me a lot of confidence, because he’s a strong player and he’s playing at home,” said Wangchaoren. “Beating him today gives me a lot of confidence. I’ve been working hard for every tournament. This makes me confident for my next opponent. I’m happy to play and my performance is getting better. This year I will try to get a title and get my confidence back.”
Meanwhile, in men’s doubles, Malaysia’s Man Wei Chong/Tee Kai Wun crossed the opening obstacle at the Super 1000 for the first time, vanquishing world champions Kang Min Hyuk/Seo Seung Jae 20-22 21-16 21-17. The Malaysians had come close on previous occasions before making their memorable breakthrough this time.
“This is our Super 1000 breakthrough, we feel we played really well,” said Chong. “Our mindset was clear and we understood our gameplan. We prepared well and we didn’t think too much about our opponents. As we’ve played many Super 1000 tournaments and we always lost in the first round, we wanted to give our best. Today we tried to enjoy the game and we were relaxed.”
Other Highlights
» Ester Nurumi Tri Wardoyo won a surprisingly one-sided verdict over Nozomi Okuhara, 21-17 21-16, in 43 minutes.
» The closest match of the day was the all-Indonesian clash between Sabar Karyaman Gutama/Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani and Rahmat Hidayat/Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan. After 72 minutes, the match went the way of Gutama/Isfahani after they saved four match points, 24-26 24-22 26-24.
» Sixth seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai nearly fell to their compatriots Supak Jomkoh/Supissara Paewsampran as they trailed 5-12 in the decider before they recovered to win 21-15 18-21 23-21.
» Weng Hong Yang saved two match points against Kiran George to take his second round place against Lee Zii Jia.
Source: Indonesia Open: Ginting, Kang/Seo Crash
