Ygor Coelho de Oliveira became the first Brazilian to win a match in the main draw of a World Superseries when he beat Emil Holst at the Victor Korea Open 2017 today.
The Brazilian kept his head despite losing the opening game to Denmark’s Holst and stayed steady through the home stretch to carve out a 15-21 21-15 21-15 victory that gave him a second round appointment against Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie. This is only his second Superseries appearance – he had fallen in the second qualifying round at the Yonex French Open 2016.
“I’m very happy – I’m the first Brazilian to win a match in a Superseries main draw,” said a thrilled Oliveira. “I’m really impressed with my level. Playing the World Championships gave me a lot of confidence. I played three games against World No.3 Shi Yuqi (in Glasgow). I’ve played many players who are of the Superseries level, I’ve played three games with them and that gives me confidence. I have to be patient; I cannot be top 10 or top 20 today or tomorrow.”
Oliveira’s second round opponent Christie also came through in three games, against Korea’s Lee Hyun Il, 21-16 21-23 21-12.
In Women’s Doubles, Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu were the only Indonesian Women’s Doubles pair to make the second round.
The Indonesians, who got together as a pair in May, surprised World No.13 duo Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai (Thailand) in a hard-fought first round 21-15 24-22.
Korea holds happy memories for Greysia Polii, for two of her most memorable triumphs – the Asian Games 2014 gold medal and the Korea Open 2015 victory – happened here. Currently with a different partner from the one with whom she achieved those triumphs, Polii said they were still establishing their on-court relationship.
“For now, we are trying to find our best rhythm on court. Outside the court, we’re a match, but on court, we have to find our rhythm together, we have to find our chemistry on court. She’s very different from Nithya (Krishinda Maheswari), very different tactically as well.
“Korea has been one of my best countries, very good memories!”
Polii and Rahayu have a formidable second round ahead, against World Championships runners-up Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota (Japan).
Fukushima and Hirota were among the four Japanese pairs who made the second round; the others being Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi; Shiho Tanaka/Koharu Yonemoto and Wakana Nagahara/Mayu Matsumoto.
Korea too had a great day, with seven Women’s Doubles pairs making the second round. Among them were qualifiers Kim Ha Na/Kong Hee Yong; Kim Min Ji/Seong Ah Yeong and Baek Ha Na/Lee Yu Rim.
The trans-national Mixed Doubles partnership of Malaysia’s Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif and Indonesia’s Rusydina Antardayu Riodingin continued to prosper, getting past Korean challengers Park Kyung Hoon/Baek Ha Na, 22-20 21-16.
Two trans-national partnerships were seen in action in Men’s Doubles. Indonesia’s Hendra Setiawan and Malaysia’s Tan Boon Heong made their way past World Junior champions Han Chengkai/Zhou Haodong (China) 21-12 21-19, but another trans-national partnership went down in a close battle. Malaysia’s Lim Khim Wah and Korea’s Yoo Yeon Seong – who won the title here last year with Lee Yong Dae – were edged out by Japan’s Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi 20-22 21-13 22-20.
“We haven’t had much practice together,” said Lim. “We trained for about a week. We were teammates in the league in Malaysia and that’s why we decided to play together. We’ll play the rest of the season and see how it goes.”
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