2012 Hong Kong Open: Nozomi Okuhara moves into second stage of Women’s Singles qualifying round
Japan’s talented campaigner Nozomi Okuhara played with great precision and gained access to the second stage of qualifying round in Yonex Sunrise Hong Kong Open on November 20, 2012.
Women’s Singles expert Nozomi thrashed Hung Shih Han of Chinese Taipei with an impressive result of 21-10 and 21-19 in a 30-minute tussle.
The budding Japanese shuttler, who led her country to glory in 2012 BWF World Junior Championships few weeks earlier, continued with her top form and sealed splendid straight-set victory.
Meanwhile, Shih Han also earned great deal of admiration for putting an honest effort and she walked tall despite of receiving 2-0 defeat. She took a great start in both games but lack of good finishing skills triggered the collapse.
On the other hand, Nozomi kept a low profile in the beginning but stunned her rival with an intensive attack in later part of the game.
In first set of the match, some unforced errors kept her at the lower end in the establishing rallies but then few back-to-back points took her to a commanding position of 8-4.
She maintained that difference until the mid-game break and managed to pile up an impressive figure of 11.
Later part of the game proved a dead contest as Nozomi did not commit even a single mistake and cornered her opponent. She widened the gap with eight consecutive points and then placed a winning margin of 21-10.
However, the following game was filled with a lot of excitement as both contenders put all they had to achieve their respective goals.
The Japanese campaigner was looking to transform her 1-0 lead into a straight-set win while the opposing shuttler was trying to avoid a woeful exit.
The battle heated when Nozomi unleashed a series of masterly crafted strokes and pushed her competitor on the back-foot.
However, Shih Han showed strong nerves and counter-balanced the situation with a couple of productive rallies.
This crucial set kept swinging between both shuttlers all the way to game point situation and finally this cliff-hanging segment ended with a tight yet decisive score of 21-19.
Now Nozomi Okuhara is scheduled to meet Belaetrix Manuputi in the second stage of this qualifying round.
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