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TOKYO : Women's world number one Zhou Mi of Hong Kong failed to clear the first hurdle when she crashed to Adriyanti Firdasari in the Japan Open badminton tournament on Wednesday.
The Masters Final champion, who played for China previously, suffered a shock 17-21, 21-18, 18-21 defeat in the first round to the Indonesian, ranked 20th in the world.
"It was difficult in the first game to get used to the wind (caused by the air conditioner) and its direction. I managed to take the second game, but physically I'm tired in the third game," said Zhou.
"I'm not physically in good form recently. I've been playing recently to find out in what aspect I must improve."
The 2002 Asian Games gold medallist added that she was under heavy pressure when she was playing for China, because she must "always win."
"I feel pressure-free playing for Hong Kong, but I started to feel pressure again, because of the people's expectation," she added.
For Firdasari, it was her first win over Zhou in three meetings.
"I'm very, very happy. I've never expected to beat her, so I just tried to keep playing," said the 2005 SEA Games gold medallist.
"When I led the first game, I thought of winning the match, and I lost the second game. But I kept my motivation high in the third game. I lost to her twice before, so I really wanted to beat her this time," she added.
In the second round on Thursday, Firdasari will play Nicole Grether of Germany, the 21-19, 21-12 winner over Japan's Megumi Taruno.
Eighth seed Saina Nehwal of India joined Zhou as a surprise early casualty, losing to Jiang Yanjiao of China 15-21, 23-21, 14-21, but China's Wang Lin and
Wang Yihan, Pi Hongyan of France and Tine Rasmussen of Denmark safely went through.
Men's world number one Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia brushed aside Thailand's Boonsak Ponsana 21-9, 21-15, showing no ill-effects from an old knee injury.
"For sure he is a tough opponent. I just tried to keep myself calm and play my game. I tried not to lose a single point because every point is very important," said Lee, title winner here in 2007.
Other top players including Athens Olympic gold medallist Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia, compatriot and defending champion Soni Dwi Kuncoro, Peter Gade of Denmark and 2008 Asian champion Park Sung-Hwan of South Korea also won.
Fourth seed Hidayat beat Chan Yan-kit of Hong Kong, fifth seed Kuncoro defeated Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand and third seed Gade outgunned Rajiv Ouseph of England, all in straight games.
Park needed 52 minutes to beat Wong Choong Hann of Malaysia 16-21, 21-13, 21-12, while 2009 Asian champion Bao Chunlai of China downed Hong Ji-Hoon of South Korea 23-21, 21-16.
- AFP/ir
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