2013 India Open: Chong Wei overpowers Kazumasa Sakai in Men’s Singles pre quarter-finals
Malaysia’s ace shuttler Lee Chong Wei proved himself superior in the pre quarter-final round of Yonex Sunrise India Open and gained access to the round of eight on Thursday, April 25, 2013.
World Number one Chong Wei locked horns with Kazumasa Sakai of Japan and this encounter concluded in just 33 minutes.
The Malaysian campaigner did not give his lower ranked rival even a single chance to rise and sealed a splendid straight-set win with 21-17 and 21-9 margin.
He started the beating from very first stroke of the opening game and continued playing with this authoritative approach until the last shot was played.
On the other hand, the Japanese player was no comparison to two-time Olympic silver medallist and he surrendered tamely in both segments of the showdown.
However, Kazumasa’s performance in the opening game earned him great deal of admiration and respect.
Initially, he looked little bit dazzled in front of “Datuk” but then couple of back-to-back points proved a real booster for his confidence.
The Japanese lad matched his rival’s skills in all departments of the game and remained close on the points table until the half time.
After the mid-game break, Chong Wei showed his real class and swept the table with a decent margin.
At first, he made a difference by prevailing in couple of consecutive rallies and then left his challenger far behind with a winning total of 21-17.
The following game completely belonged to the Malaysian maestro as he did not make even a single mistake and locked the honour in a commendable manner.
Chong Wei started mounting pressure in the establishing rallies and kept his opponent at the lower end all the way to concluding moments.
His strategy was so complete that Kazumasa could not gain lead throughout this set. He finished first half of the set with a huge margin and then relished full benefits of this advantage in latter part of game.
Chong Wei maintained an unassailable lead of 12 points and wrapped this showdown with an impressive result of 21-9.
Now he will meet a local shuttler H.S. Prannoy in the quarter-finals of India Open.
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