MADRID, 20 September 2006 — World champion Taufik Hidayat made a determined start to his title defense with an aggressive 21-17, 21-17 win over joint ninth seed Ng Wei of Hong Kong yesterday.
The Indonesian was pushed hard all the way by Ng but won thanks to a battery of powerful overhead smashes interspersed with some delicate drop shots.
Women’s world champion Xie Xingfang also progressed into the second round with a 21-14, 21-14 win over Kati Tolmoff of Estonia. Joint fifth seed Chen Hong breezed into the second round with a 21-11, 21-9 victory over Pedro Yang of Guatemala. Top seed and world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia and second seed Lin are not in action until today, having been given byes into the second round. Dicky Palyama of Netherlands disposed of England’s Aamir Ghaffar 21-18, 21-14, while world No. 9 Muhamad Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia had few problems in claiming a 21-10, 21-14 victory over Ireland’s Scott Evans.
In the women’s event Danish ninth seed Tine Rasmussen notched up a convincing 21-12, 21-14 win over Cheng Shao-chieh of Tapei who won a bronze at last year’s world championship in Anaheim.
