CHINA OPEN: GADE FALLS TO INDONESIA'S SANTOSO

** 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 **

November 8, 1997 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - Badminton's top men's singles player, Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark, was upended yesterday in the quarterfinals of the five-star China Open being played at Huangpu stadium in Shanghai. Gade, the top seed, was defeated by Budi Santoso of Indonesia, seeded eighth, in two games 15-10 and 18-13.

Gade started out poorly in the match, letting the Indonesian seize commanding leads in the first game. Santoso raced to a 10-2 advantage before the Danish ace got going. Gade scored several times to get close to Santoso but he had let the Indonesian get too big of an advantage. Gade could only get to within three points of Santoso at 10-13. The Indonesian was then able to tally two markers to finish off the first game 15-10.

In the second game, Gade again fell behind to the Indonesian 5-10. However, he was then able to mount a comeback using good defensive play against smash attacks from Santoso to put himself into scoring situations. Gade equalized at 10-10 and the two played even to deuce at 13-all.

In the five-point setting (tiebreak) that followed, Santoso was in control of most of the rallies and won 18-13 (5-0 in the tiebreak).

Santoso will face third-seeded Dong Jiong, China's number one in one of the men's singles semifinals later today. Dong defeated Henrik Bengtsson of Sweden 15-7 and 15-2 in his quarterfinal match.

Fourth seed Sun Jun, China's number two, had an easy quarterfinal, beating the ninth-seeded Ong Ewe Hock of Malaysia 15-4 and 15-5. Seventh seed Luo Yigang, China's number three, defeated fellow Chinese player Chen Wei 15-4 and 15-4 to set up a semifinal clash with Sun Jun.

In the men's doubles quarterfinals, the top seeds, Nick Ponting and John Quinn of England, were upset by China's Yang Ming and Zhang Jun 15-4 and 15-4. Sixth seeds Ge Cheng and Tao Xiaoqiang from China put out the fourth seeded Indonesians Hian and Hermono 9-15, 15-5 and 15-12.

These two Chinese pairs will tangle in one of the men's doubles semifinals later today.

Second seeds Liu Yong and Zhang Wei of China will battle the third seeds from Malaysia, Lee Wan Wah and Choong Tan Fook, in the other men's doubles semifinal. Liu and Zhang defeated Tesana Panvisvas and Anurak Thiraratsakul of Thailand, while the Malaysian duo beat Tony Gunawan and Victo Wibowo, the fifth seeds from Indonesia, with a score of 18-17 and 15-6.

In an all-Chinese women's singles quarterfinals, world champion and top seed Ye Zhaoying defeated Yao Yan. World championships silver medalist and third seed Gong Zhichao disposed of Zhang Ning. Fourth seeded Dai Yun defeated Han Jingna, and the unseeded Zeng Yaqiong, who had taken advantage of the last minute withdrawal of the second-seeded Camilla Martin of Denmark to get into the elite eight, upset sixth seed Wang Chen.

In the women's doubles, world champions and top seeds Ge Fei and Gu Jun of China took their spot in the semifinals by beating Tsai Hui-min and Chen Li-chin of Taipei. They will face teammates Yang Wei and Gao Ling who took out the fifth seeds, Qiang Hong and Liu Lu.

In the other semifinal, second seeds Qin Yiyuan and Tang Yongshu from China will battle sixth seeds Liu Zhong and Huang Nanyan. Qin and Tang demolished Etty Tantri and Cynthia Tuwankotta of Indonesia, 15-2 and 15-6, in their quarterfinal, wile Liu and Huang got past the Hong Kong Open champions, Chung Jae Hee and Ra Kyung Min of Korea.

In the mixed doubles quarterfinals, world champions and top seeds Liu Yong and Ge Fei defeated Ha Tae Kwan and Chung Jae Hee of Korea. Fourth seeds Kim Dong Moon and Ra Kyung Min, another top Korean pairing, beat sixth seeds Zhang Jun and Liu Lu. Eighth seeds Simon Archer of England and Catrine Bengtsson of Sweden eked out a tough three-game win over China's Luo Yigang and Yang Wei, 17-16, 16-18 and 15-11, and the unseeded Yang Ming and Qiang Hong put out fellow Chinese players Zhu Feng and Huang Nanyan.

Liu and Yong will play Yang and Qiang in one of today's mixed doubles semis, while Kim and Ra will face Archer and Bengtsson.

(wangc/dsimmons)