U.S. OPEN: TOP MEN'S DOUBLES PAIRS FELLED

** This NEW SHUTTLENWS REPORT is presented by badminton world champions YANG YANG (1987 and 1989) and ZHAO JIAN HUA (1991) and by YANG YANG BADMINTON PRODUCTS **

September 12, 1997 (NEW SHTTULENWS) - Upsets continued to be the order of the day at the U.S. Open badminton championships being held at the Orange County Badminton Club in the southern California city of Orange. Today, all of the top four seeded pairs in the men's doubles event were upended in quarterfinal competition.

Olympic bronze medalists Antonius Budi Ariantho and Denny Kantono from Indonesia, picked by the tournament organizers to be the champions, fell to eighth-seeded Korean pair of Kim Dong Moon and Ha Tae Kwon in a match that featured ferocious smashing and killshots as well as spectacular defending. The Koreans won in three games 15-4, 17-18 and 15-11.

In another exciting quarterfinal match, the second seeded Danish pair of Jon Holst-Christensen and Michael were defeated by Indonesians Victo Wibowo and Tony Gunawan 4-15, 15-9 and 15-18. Wibowo and Gunawan are seeded seventh.

Third seeds Thomas Stavngaard and Jim Laugessen of Denmark also lost in still another scintilating contest. Sixth seeds Simon Archer and Chris Hunt from England beat the Danes 15-11, 10-15 and 15-8.

Fourth seeds Peter Axelsson and Par Gunnar Jonsson were put out by Chinese players Liu Yong and Zhang Wei in a less spectacular contest. The fifth seeded Chinese defeated the Swedes 15-4 and 15-11.

In men's singles, the tenth-seeded Luo Yigang of China and the thirteenth- seeded Dutch player Jeroen van Dijk continued their string of upset wins.

Luo who yesterday had accounted for fourth seed Ardy Wiranata of Indonesia took out the seventh-seeded Thomas Stuer-Lauridsen of Denmark 15-11 and 15-7, while van Dijk, victor over Danish world champion Peter Rasmussen yesterday, outplayed sixth-seed Hermawan Susanto of Indonesia with dropshots and good net play to win at 15-9 and 15-11.

Ninth seed Alan Budi Kusuma of Indonesia, another of yesterday's upset winners, did not get past fifth-seed Peter Gade-Christensen of Denmark. Gade, one of the upcoming stars of the sport, and Kusuma, the 1992 Olympic gold medalist, engaged in an match that had very exciting moments in the first and third games.

Gade and Kusuma played a very close first game with the Indonesian squeezing past Gade in a five-point tiebreak 5-4 (18-17). Gade's young arms and legs enabled him to blast past the tired Indonesian veteran in the second 15-2.

Kusuma coasted in the late part of the second game when Gade's win seemed inevitable. This and the five-minute break before the third game gave Kusuma a chance to get ready for a final push. The Indonesian came into the decider refreshed and he gave Gade a battle, only to lose in a three-point tiebreak 3-0 (17-14).

Second-seed Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark had a relatively easy 15-9 and 15-6 win over twelfth-seed Marleve Mainaky of Indonesia, another upset winner yesterday.

In mixed doubles, Simon Archer and Jo Davies of England surprised the second seeds from Sweden, Peter Axelsson and Catrine Bengtsson, 15-10 and 15-6. The English pair are not seeded even though Archer is one of the world's elite doubles players.

In women's singles, the last player representing the host country USA lost. The unseeded US champion Cindy Shi was beaten by Dai Yun of China, seeded second. Shi however gave a good account of herself in the first game, taking the highly-rated Chinese lefthander to a tiebreak before losing 10-12. Dai also won the second game 11-2.

Despite the loss, Shi's result is a bright light for badminton in the USA. She is the first USA player to reach the quarterfinals of a top-rated open badminton championship in recent times.

Results of the other quarterfinal matches yesterday (number before name indicates seeding:

Women's Singles
1 - Camilla Martin (Denmark) beat 8 - Kelly Morgan (Wales) 11-4 and 11-5
3 - Han Jingna (China) beat Takako Ida (Japan) 10-12, 11-2 and 11-2
4 - Marina Andrievskaya (Sweden) beat 5 - Mette Pedersen (Denmark) 11-0 and 11-4

Women's Doubles
1 - Qin Y/Tang Y (China) beat Chung J H/Ra K Y (Korea) 15-2 and 15-7
3 - M Vange/A Jorgensen (Denmark) beat M Andrievskaya/C Bengtsson (Sweden) 15-10 and 15-10
4 - J Davies/N Beck (England) beat 6 - S Watt/E Middlemiss (Scotland) 15-11 and 15-1
2 - Y Iwata/H Matsuda (Japan) beat 5 - E v d Heuvel/M Hoogland (Netherlands) 15-7 and 15-1

Mixed Doubles
1 - C Hunt/D Kellogg (England) beat 6 - I Sydie/D Julien (Canada) 15-2 and 15-7
5 - Kim D M/Ra K M (Korea) beat Luo Y/Qin Y (China) 15-5 and 15-9
3 - B Suprianto/R Riseu (Indonesia) beat Chen G/Tang Y (China) 4-15, 15-11 and 15-10

(tkerrins/aplayer/mcoe/mgrossman)