A few weeks ago, Raphael Deloy and Sydney Tjonadi had never played together. The ROKETTO Sydney International is only their second tournament as a pair, and it has already taken them to their first international final.
The trans-Tasman partnership, New Zealand’s Deloy and Australia’s Tjonadi, first teamed up in Bendigo. They arrived at the ROKETTO Badminton Centre as fifth seeds in the mixed doubles, and they have looked like a pair with plenty of experience. Deloy is the reigning Oceania Junior men’s doubles champion. Tjonadi won the 2023 Oceania Junior mixed doubles title and has competed at the 2024 Uber Cup.
A final built on nerve
The quarterfinal was straightforward. Deloy and Tjonadi defeated third seeds Rio Agustino and Priska Kustiadi 21-14, 21-14. The semi-final was not. Eighth seeds Huang Tsung-I and Wang Yi Zhen took the first game 21-13, and the Oceania pair came back to win 13-21, 21-16, 23-21 in 49 minutes, saving their best for the last two points of the third game.
They now face fourth seeds Lu Chen and Yun Jung Chang in the final, a pair who spent the weekend ending Australian hopes.
The pair who stopped the top seeds
Lu and Chang defeated Jack Yu and Angela Yu 21-15, 21-10 in the quarter-finals, then put an end to top seeds Andika Ramadiansyah and Nozomi Shimizu’s chase for a third title in three weeks. Ramadiansyah and Shimizu defeated Timotius Elbert and Sylvina Kurniawan 21-13, 21-19 in the last eight, but lost the semi-final 21-19, 20-22, 21-16 after an hour.
Shimizu’s day did not get easier. She and Laudya Chelsea Griselda, the second seeds in the women’s doubles, defeated Malaysia’s Khor Jing Wen and Australia’s Bernice Teoh 21-7, 21-3 in 19 minutes in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals they lost 21-19, 21-17 to Japan’s Sora Hatakeyama and Yumi Tanabe.
Ferary makes the men’s singles final
Muhammad Rafi Zafran Ferary is the other Oceania player in a final. He needed three games to get past fellow Australian Ken Richardson, 21-18, 12-21, 21-14 in 1 hour 16 minutes, in an all-Australian quarter-final. Richardson had reached it by defeating fourth seed Alap Mishra and eleventh seed Samuel Lee. In the semi-finals, Ferary again came through three games, defeating sixth seed Ting Yen-Chen 21-16, 11-21, 21-13 in 1 hour 2 minutes.
He will face Chinese Taipei’s Huang Yu. Huang defeated third seed Ginpaul Sonna 22-20, 21-18 in the quarter-finals, then fifth seed Chiang Tzu Chieh 22-20, 8-21, 21-13 in the semi-finals. Chiang had earlier ended the tournament for top seed Wang Po-Wei, 21-5, 21-19.
Gao takes a seed to three
Rui Gao’s tournament ended one match from the final. The eighth seed defeated third seed Liao Jui-Chi 21-13, 15-21, 21-18 in the quarter-finals, and then pushed second seed Chen Su Yu to three games in the semi-finals, taking the second game 24-22 before losing 21-10, 22-24, 21-16 in 1 hour 3 minutes. Chen will play top seed Tung Ciou-Tong, who defeated India’s Kundu Garima 21-13, 21-11.
The rest of Oceania’s doubles
Several of our pairs fell in the quarter-finals. Michael Owen and Jack Yu lost 21-19, 11-21, 21-16 to the Philippines’ second seeds Solomon Jr. Padiz and Julius Villabrille after 57 minutes. Phillip Halim and Landon Hosea Kurniawan lost to top seeds Huang and Lin Ting-Yu, Rizky Hidayat and Pramudya Kusumawardana lost to third seeds Chang Ko-Chi and Chen Sheng Fa, and Deloy and Dylan Soedjasa lost 21-11, 21-13 to fourth seeds Shao Hua Chiu and Lin Bing-Wei.
Finals line-ups
Women’s singles: Tung Ciou-Tong v Chen Su Yu
Women’s doubles: Arisa Ishida/Akari Sato v Sora Hatakeyama/Yumi Tanabe
Men’s singles: Muhammad Rafi Zafran Ferary (AUS) v Huang Yu
Mixed doubles: Deloy (NZL)/Tjonadi (AUS) v Lu Chen/Yun Jung Chang
Men’s doubles: Padiz/Villabrille v Shao Hua Chiu/Lin Bing-Wei
The finals are on Sunday 18 October, beginning at 11am local time.
