Xu gearing up for RP Open

---

Germany’s Huaiwen Xu, the world No. 5 in the women’s
singles, primed up for her keenly awaited stint in the
Bingo Bonanza Philippine Open, fighting back from a
set down to turn back Taiwan”s Shao Chieh Tsai at the
start of the Sudirman Cup at Scotstoun in Glasgow,
Scotland Monday.

Although Germany dropped a sorry 1-4 upset loss to
Chinese-Taipei in a Division 2, Group A match, Xu’s
13-21, 21-15, 21-17 victory over Shao augured well for
her buildup for the second RP Open, which comes off
the wraps July 18 at the Philsports Arena in Pasig
City, Metro Manila with a host of the world class
players participating.

Upset actually marred the first day of the Sudirman
Cup with Singapore posting a shock 5-0 rout of Sweden
in Division 2. The Swedes, relegated from Group 1 in Beijing two
years ago, were seeded No. 8 but lost the first three
matches to the 11th-ranked Singapore with Li Li, the
2002 Commonwealth Games champion, leading the charge
with a 21-17, 14-21, 21-17 win over Sara Persson in
the women’s singles.

Hendri Kurniawan Saoutra and Yujia Li claimed the
first point with a 21-14, 21-16 victory over Henri
Hurskainen and Elin Bergblom in the mixed doubles and
Kendrick Lee made it 2-0 with a 23-21, 21-14 win over
Magnus Sahlberg in the men’s singles.

Hendra Wijaya and Ronald Susilo, who are also expected
to compete in the RP Open, then took the men’s doubles
while Yanmei Jiang and Yujia Li completed the
Singapore sweep with a victory in women’s doubles.
Japan began the round-robin campaign with a 3-1
victory over the Netherlands in Division 2, Group B
while Poland defeated Russia, 4-1, also in Division 2,
Group B.

Other winners for Taiwan were Chung Chien and Wen
Hsing Cheng, 21-12, 21-11, over Juliane Schenk and
Nicole Grether, also RP Open participants.