Pramudya Kusumawardana has been in quarterfinals before, but this time it was different, and he was shaking even after he’d come off court. Kusumawardana and Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan had beaten Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan for their first win over the Daddies in five matches.

To do it at the Istora, where the Daddies are the reigning deities, required Kusumawardana and Rambitan to walk a tightrope at the end. The crowd was a-flutter after Ahsan and Setiawan had saved two match points. The momentum was all theirs.

“They were 4-0 over us and that was affecting our confidence,” said Kusumawardana. “It’s awesome to win against them. It was so close at the end, and we tried to stay calm. The crowd was behind them, but we weren’t uncomfortable with that. Last year also we were in the quarterfinals, so I think we can do better.”

Rajawat Impresses

A 21-year-old in his first HSBC BWF World Tour Super 1000 event made a big impression, and even though Priyanshu Rajawat couldn’t pull off an upset over Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, his face lit up with a big smile when he exited the arena.

Ginting had to keep his wits about him to navigate past his relatively unknown opponent, who showed no sign of being intimidated.

“It’s a great experience for me,” said Rajawat. “It was overwhelming, because after winning the first game I felt I had a chance, but I made too many mistakes under pressure. I’ll take a lot of confidence from this match, I hope I can maintain this level.”

Ginting next faces compatriot Jonatan Christie for a place in the semifinals.

“It was a tough match, maybe because it’s our first meeting. I only saw him play on YouTube,” said the second seed.

“I had a lead in the first game, but he changed the way he played, and I don’t know what happened. I tried to get back by changing my tactics, tried to push him by playing aggressively, but not to rush. He’s got a good defence as well, it’s not easy to get a point from him, so I had to play patiently.

“He could be a player to watch. Actually, he’s already there.”

Tabeling/Piek Down Fourth Seeds

Among the significant results of the day was Robin Tabeling/Selena Piek’s upset of fourth seeds Seo Seung Jae/Chae YuJung 21-17 21-17 and Akira Koga/Taichi Saito’s defeat of defending champions Liu Yu Chen/Ou Xuan Yi 18-21 24-22 21-16.

“Moving forward and taking control of the net was key,” said Piek, “because the wind was quite tricky, and we executed that very well.”

Results (2nd Round)
Order of Play (Quarterfinals)