2012 Bitburger Badminton Open: Juliane Schenk powers her way into Women’s Singles semi-finals
Women’s Singles expert Juliane Schenk continued with her top form and made her way into the semi-final round of Bitburger Badminton Open Grand Prix Gold on Friday, November 2, 2012.
She unseated the compatriot shuttler Olga Konon by wrapping up the showdown with a favourable result of 21-14 and 21-16.
This 37-minute encounter, staged at the local badminton complex of Saarbrucken in Germany, saw Juliane at top of her game as she cornered the opposing shuttler and locked the honour in just two games.
Now she will lock horns with Petya Nedelcheva to gain access to the title match of this Grand Prix Gold tournament.
The top seeded Juliane Schenk will utilise all of her valuable experience and confidence which she has gained through an unbeatable run in previous rounds.
In the quarter-finals, the German campaigner played with great precision and kept her challenger at the lower end all the way to the final moments.
Though, she took some time to get on the right track but she never looked back after gaining the required momentum.
Juliane Schenk struggled in the establishing rallies and kept trailing behind until 7-9 but she bagged five consecutive points and tipped the scale in her favour.
After 12-9 score, she made a swift progress and mounted pressure by registering 15-11 total in third quarter of the set.
This deficit proved a final blow for Olga Konon as she could not come back and surrendered after reading 14-21 margin on the board.
The second set remained interesting until half time as both contenders matched each other’s skills and stayed close on the points table but then Juliane showed some elevated craft and sealed a splendid straight-set victory.
She finished the first half of the set with 11-9 and widened the gap by gathering few valuable points in a row.
At this stage, Olga Konon showed some spark and caught her opponent at 14-14 but this short campaign could not make a strong impact on the match score position.
Juliane Schenk showed better finishing skills and swept the table with a significant difference in 21-16 margin.
Now she is just two steps away from the top spot on the victory stand in the home event and badminton critics are giving her better odds for this title.
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