Vita Shows Brilliance in Women’s, Mixed Doubles

It appears that Vita Marissa is finding success whoever her partner is and whichever division she plays.

Vita teamed up with Nadya Melati to pull off the biggest upset in the first round of the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold, ousting women’s doubles top seeds and local favorites Chin Eei Hui and Wong Pei Tty 25-23, 21-12 on Thursday.

However, Vita, who is part of Indonesia’s top-ranked mixed-doubles pair with Hendra Aprida Gunawan, played down her recent triumph.

“[Wong] was still injured so I know she was not 100 percent when she played out there. But that was an advantage for us,” Vita told the Jakarta Globe. “It was a pretty tough first set for us, because they kept changing their tactics and we were impatient.”

“The key is to make my badminton partner — whoever he or she is — comfortable when they play with me. I always tell them not to put too much pressure on themselves,” Vita added.

Wong has been struggling with a knee injury since the All England in March. She and Chin, ranked No.5 in the world, were forced to skip two Super Series last month — the Singapore Open and the Indonesia Open.

Meanwhile, Vita and Nadya will play for a quarterfinal berth when they take on qualifiers and fellow Indonesians Weni Anggraini and Richi Puspita Dili in the second round today.

Weni and Richi beat Malaysia’s Chow Mei Kuan and Lee Meng Yean 18-21, 21-17, 22-20.

Komala Dewi and Keshya Nurvita Hanadia also came away with an upset, beating third seeds Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi of Japan 13-21, 21-18, 22-20.

Indonesia failed to send a third women’s pair to the next round after Suci Rizki Andini and Della Destiara Haris lost 21-11, 21-12 to to Hong Kong’s Chan Tsz Ka and Chau Hoi Wah.

In mixed doubles, Vita and Hendra secured a final eight berth after they trounced Ow Yao Han and Lai Pei Jing of Malaysia 21-11, 21-12.

Vita and Hendra’s next match will be against compatriots Markis Kido and Lita Nurlita, who beat Gan Teik Chai and Ng Hui Lin 21-17, 21-18.

Devin Lahardi Fitriawan and Liliyana Natsir also advanced to the quarterfinals after defeating Flandy Limpele and Lotte Jonathans 21-3, 14-21, 21-13.

Indonesia’s last women’s singles shuttler bowed out after Maria Kristin Yulianti lost 13-21, 21-17, 21-18 to Salakjit Ponsana of Thailand.

(This article was was published on www.thejakartaglobe.com on July 8, 2010. Photo: Yudhi Sukma Wijaya/JG)