Akvile Stapusaityte ousts Matilda Petersen in second round of 2012 Iceland International
Women’s Singles player Akvile Stapusaityte performed up to the expectations and trod into the quarter-final round of Iceland International on Friday, November 9, 2012.
She was up against a lower ranked opponent Matilda Petersen and their encounter prolonged to 45 minutes before ending with final figures of 14-21, 21-5 and 21-18.
The top seeded Lithuanian shuttler showed great fighting skills and locked the honour despite of going down in the opening game.
On the other hand, Matilda Petersen frittered away a great opportunity of straight-set win and crashed out of the event in a shameful manner.
The Swedish female campaigner looked at top of her game in the first set as she proved her worth by finishing this crucial segment with a seven-point difference.
Matilda did not give her competitor enough time to get settled and confounded her with a brisk attack.
She bagged many valuable points in a row and established an unassailable lead with figure of 11 before the interval.
After the one-minute break, she gathered some pace and widened the gap in no time. She maintained that momentum and left her rival far behind with 21-14 score on the board.
However, the story was entirely different in second set as the suppressed contender of previous game showed a transformed character and brought the contest to the right balance.
This time Akvile did not repeat previous mistakes and gained an early advantage to keep her challenger under control.
She played with great precision and strengthened her grip by piling up a mountainous total of 11. She carried this flow in later part of the game and swept the table with an overwhelming margin of 21-5.
This revised match score position subjected both players to a tough trial as they had no margin of error. They snapped at each other’s heels and stayed close on points table all the way to the final stage.
Finally, this neck and neck competition ended when Akvile tipped the scale in her favour. She placed a winning total of 21-18 and raised hands as victor.
Now her next challenge is to surpass Kim Hyo Min in the quarter-finals of this International Series.
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