2013 Australian Open: A woeful exit for Taufik Hidayat from Men’s Singles event
Indonesia’s prime shuttler Taufik Hidayat failed to continue his successful run in Yonex Australian Badminton Open and crashed out of the event on Thursday, April 4, 2013.
He locked horns with an unknown Chinese shuttler Xue Song who took just 39 minutes to register an impressive result of 21-15 and 21-18.
This Men’s Singles encounter was staged at the local badminton arena of Sydney where a huge crowd assembled to encourage the former world champion.
However, their thirst was not filled as Taufik Hidayat failed to show his brilliance on court and faced a disgraceful straight-set defeat.
In first set of the match, the Indonesian maestro looked completely off colour as he dropped many valuable points in the beginning and could not come out of the deficit until the game point situation.
On the other hand, the young but talented Chinese player Xue Song capitalised his rival’s blunders and strengthened his grip over the game.
He established an unassailable lead immediately in the beginning and then widened the gap on points table by ruling the court in few consecutive rallies. He did not lose focus and managed to finish first half of the set with a decent total.
After the mid-game break, Xue Song showed maturity in his craft and amazed everyone with a splendid show of skills. He kept on moving forward at steady pace and wrapped this segment of the showdown with a favourable score of 21-15.
However, it was not an easy win for him in the following game as Taufik Hidayat showed some resilience and brought life back into the contest.
Initially, the ace shuttler of Indonesia prevailed in some uninterrupted rallies and raised his chances of success but then few back-to-back mistakes jeopardised his stakes.
Though, Xue Song remained grounded until half time but he managed to rise from the dust immediately after the interval.
In third quarter of the set, the Chinese lad served the notice of his potential by showing great fighting spirit. He bagged most of the ending points and locked the honour with a tight yet decisive total of 21-18.
It was the end of road for Taufik Hidayat and he had to bid adieu to the Australian Badminton Open.
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