2012 China Open: Chen Jin smacks Huan Gao to march into Men’s Singles semi-finals
Men’s Singles expert Chen Jin continued his successful run in Li Ning China Open and gained access to the semi-final round by thrashing Huan Gao on Friday, November 16, 2012.
Both compatriot shuttlers remained head-to-head for 77 minutes in the local badminton arena of Shanghai and this nerve-racking contest ended with final figures of 12-21, 21-19 and 21-11.
Though, World Number four Chen Jin had a psychological edge over his lower ranked opponent but he had to put an extra effort to claim a 2-1 victory.
The budding Chinese shuttler Huan Gao registered his class with a gutsy performance and walked tall despite losing this crucial battle.
In the opening game, Huan Gao looked in prime touch as he completely outclassed his experienced rival.
He kick-started his campaign with couple of back-to-back points in the beginning and then got into commanding position with a decent total of 11-4.
This seven-point deficit proved too much for Chen Jin as he could not lift this burden and knelt down tamely.
Meanwhile, Huan Gao kept moving forward at steady pace and left his competitor far behind with 21-12 score on the board.
However, the following game counter-balanced the situation as Chen Jin employed his valuable experience and bagged this crucial match point.
The Chinese maestro struggled a bit to revive his lost form but then couple of productive rallies provided him the required momentum.
Chen Jin started the beating after 2-6 and established a respectable lead by putting 11-8 margin before the interval.
After the mid-game break, he lost focus for a short span of time but managed to reinstate his dominance when it mattered.
Huan Gao strived hard to seal a straight-set victory but lack of good finishing skills proved the biggest hurdle in his way to success.
On the other hand, Chen Jin struck hard and tipped the scale in his favour with an impressive figure of 21-19.
The decider completely belonged to the second seeded player of this tournament as he played with great precision and swept the table with a huge difference of ten points.
Chen Jin locked the honour with a staggering knock of 21-11 and qualified for the semi-finals where he will meet another compatriot shuttler Zhengming Wang.
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