U.S. OPEN: HOYER MAKES IT TWO IN A ROW

** 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 14, 1997 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark, the 1996 Olympic badminton champion in the men's singles event, won his second major international title in a row yesterday at the top-rated U.S. Open tournament in the southern California city of Orange. Hoyer had been mired in a year-long title slump after he had won the Olympic gold medal, but had finally broken through at the Russian Open in Moscow two weeks ago.

Hoyer, the second seed at the tournament, defeated his up-and-coming teammate Peter Gade Christensen, the fifth seed, 15-6, 7-15 and 15-6 in the yesterday's championship match to take the title and the 13,000 US dollar men's singles champion's share of the 200,000 US dollar tournament purse.

Unlike his semifinal on Friday night, Hoyer came out in fine form in the first game. He was in control for most of the set, despite Gade's efforts to attack. In the second, Gade's aggressive tactics paid off and the young Dane evened up the match at 1 game each.

In the decider, Hoyer nosed ahead early 2-1. Hoyer then pressured Gade into three errors to pull away 5-1. Hoyer maintained his lead in the middle of the game, although Gade did manage to score several points.

Ahead at 10-6, Hoyer forced the young Gade into off-balance shots with quick, flat clears. Hoyer scored twice off Gade's poor returns with outright winners and three times with Gade errors to win the decider 15-6.

In women's singles, top-seeded Camilla Martin of Denmark beat Dai Yun of China, the second seed in a three-game championship contest. Martin had easily taken the first game 11-4 but the left-handed Dai came back to win the second set 11-6.

Late in the third game, Dai had Martin in trouble and held championship point at 10-7, but the Danish player reeled Dai in with steady play and forced a tiebreak at 10-all.

Martin did not waste her renewed chance at the title. She scored the needed two points to win the tiebreak, the championship and 10,000 US dollars.

In the mixed doubles final, Koreans Kim Dong Moon, one of the 1996 Olympic gold medal winners in the event, and Ra Kyung Min, one of the silver medalists, combined to trash the third-seeds from Indonesia, Bambang Suprianto and Rosalina Riseu, 15-1 and 15-3.

This U.S. Open mixed doubles title is the third in a row for Kim, the fifth seed with partner Ra. In 1995, he had taken the championship with Gil Young Ah, with whom he later struck Olympic gold in Atlanta. Last year, he won with Chung So Young, a 1992 Olympic women's doubles gold medalist, as his partner.

Kim also captured the men's doubles crown. He and partner Ha Tae Kwon, seeded eighth in the event, beat the fifth seeded Chinese pair of Liu Yong and Zhang Wei in the championship match.

Kim and Ha were an irresistible force in the first game. They overwhelmed the Chinese pair 15-3. In the second, Liu and Zhang's attack began to click and score against the Korean defense. The Chinese took the second set 15-6.

The Chinese held a slight advantage in the third, but the Koreans came back from a 7-10 deficit to seize the lead and then win at 15-12.

In the women's doubles finals, world championship silver medalists Qin Yiyuan and Tang Yongshu of China, seeded first, were never in trouble against second seeds Yoshiko Iwata and Haruko Matsuda of Japan. Qin and Tang won with ease, 15-6 and 15-2.

(tkerrins/mgrossman)