All England: Close Call for Daddies
World champions Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan had a shaky start to their title defence at the YONEX All England 2020, but eventually overcame stubborn opponents Akira Koga/Taichi Saito in a tense finish.
· DEV SUKUMAR
The second seeds were 0-7 and 8-13 down in the third due to some erratic play, but got their act together and pulled ahead. With three match points at 20-17, the Indonesians were nearly through, but the Japanese refused to give in and drew level. The Japanese denied their opponents three more match points before Ahsan and Setiawan clinched the issue on their seventh match point: 12-21 21-13 25-23.
It wasn’t a particularly memorable day for Indonesia, with their top two men’s singles hopes biting the dust. Sixth seed Jonatan Christie was first to go, as he bowed out to Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia, 21-15 21-13. His compatriot and fourth seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting also stumbled at the first hurdle, with Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke showing a sound defence and strong character to beat the Indonesian 21-14 21-18.
Women’s doubles pair Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu were the other prominent Indonesian casualty, beaten 21-17 21-15 by Chang Ye Na/Kim Hye Rin.