Since Susi Susanti won the gold medal in the Olympics at Barcelona when badminton first appeared as an official event, not many Indonesian women have done well in the women’s singles event.

This year, it appears that someone finally has the chance to bring back Indonesia’s pride in women’s badminton.

Maria Kristin Yulianti is the only player not from China in the semifinals of the women’s singles event, soon to face Athens gold medalist Zhang Ning. Despite being a relative newcomer to the badminton scene, she has defeated Tine Rasmussen of Denmark, one of the world’s best players. Maria Kristin carries the hopes of Indonesia for her to become the next Susi Susanti. Since Susi’s retirement in 1997, only Mia Audina has made a strong appearance for Indonesia in the event before she moved to the Netherlands.

From watching her matches, she has a playstyle like nothing I’ve seen before. Her shots are well-placed though laidback. Said one newsmagazine of her match against Rasmussen: “Her nonchalant game was surely the most appropriate way to control Tine’s attacking play.” She manages to set the pace of the game despite her opponents’ attempts to speed it up. She also takes her own mistakes lightly without getting frustrated. After losing the first game of the quarterfinals to Indian opponent Saina Nehwal, Maria Kristin took control of the match and won two straight games to seal her position in the semifinals.

She will face Zhang Ning, Chinese gold medalist at Athens, on Friday at noon Beijing local time. Indonesia and her fans are counting on Maria Kristin’s slow pace of the game to frustrate Zhang and defeat her once again as she did at the Indonesia Open earlier this year.