Australian Open: Chen Jin proves too strong for Simon Santoso in Men’s Singles semi-final
China’s Chen Jin continued his roller-coaster run as he proved too strong for Indonesia’s Simon Santoso in Men’s Singles semi-final of the Australian Open GP Gold 2012 on Saturday, April 7, at Sydney, Australia.
The World Number Five Jin, who is top seed in the draw of Australia Open, showed his elite skills in the contest and managed to win it without losing any set.
The Chinese won the opening game with a tight margin but sailed smoothly in the second game and ended the set in straight games while working for 60 minutes in the court.
On the other hand, Santoso played well in the first set and troubled the flow of his rival but failed to end it as he could not play well in the ending points and lost it with a tight margin. In the second game he could not control the pace of rallies and
lost it with a huge difference.
In the opening set, Santoso was the first to dominate the pace and managed an early lead. He played while remaining fully focused in the court and took a reasonable lead of 11-8 until the one-minute interval.
After the break, Santoso remained on track and reached at 17-12 when Jin geared up his speed and played aggressive badminton.
The Chinese remained focused in the concluding part of opening set and levelled the score at 17-17.
At this crucial stage, the Indonesian could not create trouble for his Chinese opponent who bagged the set with a 22-20 score on the board.
In the second set, Santoso again played well in the opening rallies and took an early lead but again failed to maintain it as his higher ranked opponent played well and levelled the score at 9-9. Jin was slightly ahead at 11-9 until the interval.
After the break, Jin continued playing well as he did not let Santoso to dominate the pace anymore. The Chinese was in commanding position in the ending part and won the set with a 21-15 score on the board.
The top seed wrapped up the contest with a 22-20 and 21-15 score on the board.
In the final encounter, Jin will be up against Vietnam’s Nguyen Tien Minh who won his semi-final clash against the Sho Sasaki of Japan.
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