The next stop on the HSBC Badminton World Tour is the Indonesia Masters in Jakarta! The third event of the year is a 500 event which means fewer top 20 players but includes qualifying for a few lower-ranked players.
First to deal with qualifying!
We will keep it short and sweet with these predictions. In the first matchup, we see Takuma Obayashi beating Zheng Xing Wang. Obayashi’s experience will carry him past his Chinese opponent. The second match-up will see Indonesian Alwi Farhan beat Hyeok Jin Jeon to progress to the main draw. Farhan is 1-0 up on H2H and will be in front of his home crowd. The third match-up will see Nhat Nguyen beat Kantaphon Wangcharoen, Nguyen is up 1-0 on H2H. The final Qualifier will be won by Kiran George over compatriot Srikanth Kidambi. They have never played on tour but the young star has more momentum and recent results.
Who will win the Indonesia Masters 2025 title?
There are only a few absentees from Jakarta. India Open champion Viktor Axelsen is missing, Lee Zii Jia is recovering from his ankle injury, Koki Watanabe is out, Toma Jr Popov and Christo Popov have returned to France. So this is a strong draw for the Indonesia Masters 2025.
Anders Antonsen is the reigning champion of the Indonesia Masters. This year he is the second seed with a tough draw to the final. Ka Long Angus NG in the R32 is tricky as NG is capable of pulling off big upsets. Anders is ahead on H2H 3-1 in 2024. If he did progress he would likely face Lei Lan Xi of China followed Li Shi Feng of China, two very tricky players for Anders. It is worth noting that Anders missed the India Open though so will be well rested compared to his rivals. He has a good chance at retaining his title.
Shi Yu Qi finds himself at the top of the draw again, this time with the luxury of a qualifier in the first round. Whichever qualifier that is Shi Yu Qi should easily win that match, especially with his week rest. Shi will likely have a simple route to the semifinal, even the final. His likely route is a qualifier, Layshya Sen and Chou Tien Chen to get to the semifinal. these are very winnable games for Shi Yu Qi. We can see him going all the way to the final.
Outside the top two seeds?
Chou Tien Chen is an outside favourite for us. He has played well in both Malaysia and India, one of the most consistent players on the tour. He beats the players he is expected to but very rarely beats those considered a higher level. If he can find some inspiration and get past Shi Yu Qi then he could go all the way.
Li Shi Feng has had a mixed time so far, with a semifinal in Kuala Lumpur and R32 defeat in Delhi. The extra rest time with the early exit in India could give him an edge in Jakarta. In addition, the world number six does generally perform well in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. Whether that is down to the fans or the climate, who knows, but competing somewhere he has performed well before will surely help him. He has a good draw with a qualifier in the first round which may give him some needed confidence after India. We like his chances.
Could we see the local players perform well?
There are three Indonesian players in the draw, all are in the bottom half. At least one of them should reach the semi-final as they find themselves drawn together in the same bracket. The best shot for Indonesia is Jonatan Christie. The Indonesian has been in incredible form since the All England in 2024 commonly reaching the semifinal of world tour events. There aren’t very clear patterns to assess for Christie, no correlation in pressure levels and results, no correlation in type of tournament, no link between a lot of travel or more local events. He is truly random in some of his results. However, he does seem to go on runs of results so with his semifinal finish in India this could come true again.
The second of the Indonesians, Anthony Ginting, missed India so is well rested. Another player that has a good level with the ability to peak and dip from one tournament to another. He was beaten badly by Kunlavut in Malaysia which could have knocked his confidence. Ginting will face the in-form Cheuk Yiu Lee in R32. We doubt that he will be able to beat him based on form and H2H with a 3-2 deficit. This one could be a letdown.
Chico Wardoyo has a very tough R32 draw against Nishimoto. The two haven’t played each other for over a year. In general, Nishimoto has had the better results, though two R32 defeats in his first two events of this year is poor. We hope Chico can improve his results in 2025 with mainly R32 exits in 2024.
There is an outside chance that Alwi Farhan could come through qualifying to cause some upsets. We know he is immensely talented, the future of Indonesian badminton at 19 years old. Farhan had a strong end to 2024 with his first tour title at the Indonesia Masters 100 event. Is that a good omen for competing on home soil? We have an outside shout on Alwi going to the Quarterfinals.
One to watch in Jakarta?
World ranked 30th, Brian Yang impressed at the Indonesia Masters last year. A superb run to the final where he eventually lost to Anders Antonsen. Now Brian seems short on confidence ever since the Olympics back in August. Perhaps a loss in motivation since after achieving a big goal getting to the Olympics. He has taken R32 and R16 losses at every world tour event since then. This tough run of form will hopefully end soon, perhaps revisiting the tournament he did so well in a year ago will be the answer?
Jun Hao Leong ranked at number 28 has a tough test in Jakarta. Drawn against Weng Hong Yang who eliminated him from the India Open last week in R16. This first match will be the biggest barrier for Jun Hao and tell us a lot about his chances this season. If he is able to get through the R32 we think he will go far in Indonesia. Can he overcome the mental barrier of beating a player that handed him a loss just days ago?
Our last call is Weng Hong Yang of China. A good player ranked 21st in the world but looking for some statement results. He reached the semifinal in India last week, beaten by Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong. In India, he also beat Jun Hao Leong of Malaysia in the R16 who he is drawn against in Jakarta. Can he get another win and repeat the performance that saw him win the China Open in September?
Final decision who gets out $10 bet?
Firstly, we have chosen an outside player to watch. Indonesia doesn’t feel as though it will have too many upsets, so we have chosen a player who we wouldn’t consider an outside favourite—more of a disruptive player who is outside the top 10. Weng Hong Yang of China is our pick for a player to watch!
We are torn between home crowd favourite Jonatan Christie, who has been performing well, and Anders Antonsen, who could retain his title from last year. Considering Anders has had extra time to rest and train, we will put our money on him. Anders also tends to have runs of good form, so it would match his success in Kuala Lumpur. ANDERS ANTONSEN TO WIN!!
- Indonesia Masters 2025 Preview and Predications – Men’s Singles - January 21, 2025
- Review of the India Open 2025 Singles! - January 19, 2025
- When will Vietnam produce more top badminton players? - August 3, 2024
