China, Indonesia advance to Uber Cup final

Thu, May 15 10:37 PM

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) _ Defending champion China advanced to the finals of the Uber Cup on Thursday with 3-1 win over South Korea. China, seeking its seventh straight title in the elite women's tournament, will meet Indonesia in Saturday's final after the hosts rallied from a slow start for a 3-1 win over Germany.

World No. 1 Xie Xingfang set the tone for China with a 21-9, 21-19 win over South Korea's Hwang Hye-youn in the day's opening match.

South Korea's Lee Kyung-won and Lee Hyo-jung tied the score 1-1 with a 14-21, 21-17, 21-18 win in the first doubles match at Jakarta's Istora Senayan Indoor Stadium. But the favored Chinese rallied when Lu Lan coasted to a 21-9, 21-12 win over Jang Soo-young, and China sealed the win thanks to a 21-19, 21-8 win by Wei Yili and Zhang Yawen in the second doubles match.

"There is a lot of pressure on us to win but that's to be expected," China coach Li Yongbo said. "We have a lot of young players on this team here and this tournament is good experience for them.

" Xie took advantage of superior reach and unforced errors by Hwang to cruise to an easy win in the first game. Hwang fought back in the second but Xie erased a 19-17 deficit with four straight points to win the opening match in just 42 minutes.

"This is tough tournament," Li said. "A lot of teams have improved over the years and I'm glad to see that, as long as China keeps winning.

" In the late semifinal, Germany took an early lead thanks to Maria Kristin's 22-20, 21-15 win over Indonesia's Huaiwen Xu. But the hosts pulled even on Adriyanti Firdasari's 21-16, 22-20 win over Julianne Schenk.

Jo Novita and Greysia Polii put the hosts up 2-1 with a 21-19, 21-13 doubles win over Birgit Overzier and Kathrin Schnaase before Pia Zebadiah finished with a 21-7, 21-16 win over Schnaase. In the men's Thomas Cup, defending champion China will play in Friday's semifinals against Malaysia.

Indonesia and South Korea meet in the other semifinal.

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