Indonesia had a solid day at the VICTOR China Open 2024, winning five of six second round matches, with even the solitary loss coming in a close match.

Apart from Leo Rolly Carnando/Bagas Maulana, who fell in three tight games to Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, the Indonesians would have been pleased with the day’s outcomes.

Dejan Ferdinansyah/Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja set the early momentum, cutting short world No.9 Chen Tang Jie/Toh Ee Wei’s campaign with a 21-9 rout in the third game.

Things got even better for the Indonesians with takedowns of top seeds in men’s singles and men’s doubles. Anthony Sinisuka Ginting beat home favourite Shi Yu Qi 21-11 21-8 before Muhammad Shohibul Fikri/Daniel Marthin stopped Olympic silver medallists Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang in three hard-fought games.

They were joined in the quarterfinals by fourth seeds Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto, who enjoyed a comfortable outing against Andreas Sondergaard/Jesper Toft.

Yet another winner for Indonesia was All England champion Jonatan Christie, who eked out a narrow win over Toma Junior Popov after the Frenchman had saved three match points, 16-21 21-18 22-20.

Ginting attributed his quick win to Shi Yu Qi struggling with an injury.

“I think Shi Yu Qi is not in a good condition, as you can see from his movement on court. He was not his usual self. I’m trying to adjust to the conditions. Today was my second match here and the conditions are different on each court. So it was a good opportunity for me to adjust everything on court.

“It wasn’t easy for me to restart after the upset at the Olympics. But it’s life, you still have to go. I’ve moved on already. I try to find another goal. I just want to enjoy every single thing, because it was really big pressure for me at the Olympics. But now I feel I’ve moved on.”

Other Results

» Among the upsets of the day was women’s doubles third seeds Chiharu Shida/Nami Matsuyama, who crashed out to Chinese Taipei’s Teng Chun Hsun/Yang Chu Yun, 21-19 16-21 21-19.

» Anders Antonsen broke a streak of three straight losses to Loh Kean Yew, prevailing over the Singaporean in 78 minutes.

What They Said

“I adopted some of the things that have worked in our previous matches, even though I lost some of them. Today was a new match. Last year in the same court in the same round Loh defeated me quite easily, so I’m very happy to get my revenge today.” – Anders Antonsen

“It’s not easy playing in this arena, and Popov’s playing style gives him an advantage in these conditions, because he also plays men’s doubles and his style works. I tried to push him back and be patient and calm at 20-all.” – Jonatan Christie

→ Results (Day 3)