Sapsiree leads march of Thais
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Three rising Thai badminton stars, led by world No 15 Sapsiree Taerattanachai, paraded into the quarter-finals of the Chinese Taipei Open with lop-sided victories yesterday.
Sapsiree, the 2010 Youth Olympics gold medallist, needed just 30 minutes to beat Jiayuan Chen of Indonesia 22-20 21-13 to book a quarter-final date with world No 8 and third-seed Tzu Ying Tai.
“I was a bit stiff at the beginning but I played better after I won the first game. But tomorrow will be a lot tougher as I lost all three matches to her. I have nothing to lose,” said Sapsiree, who bagged the Yonex OCBC US Open in Los Angeles two months ago.
Fresh from winning the national championship on Sunday, eighth seed and world No 17 Busanan Ongbumrungpan picked off Canada’s Li Michelle 21-11 21-15 to set up a clash with South Korean fourth seed Yeon Ju Bae.
“She’s a good player. I have to play fast and attack well. I have never played her before. I just have to go out there and try some new things,” said Busanan, winner of this year Canadian Open.
The other Thai entrant, Porntip Buranaprasertsuk, seeded seventh, also had no problem handling Ya ChingHsu of Taiwan 21-13 21-19. The world No 19 had underlined her supremacy over the world No 90 by beating her in three games in the Thailand Open this year.
In an all-Thai men’s singles second-round match, Khosit Phetpradab upset 10th seed Suppanyu Avihingsanon 21-16 16-21 21-11.
Mixed doubles specialists Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthongkam advanced with a 21-12 21-17 win over Lin Chia Yu and Wang Pei Rong of Taiwan.
