Austrian International Challenge 2012: Aditi Mutatkar beats Alesia Zaitsava in the round-of-16
India’s in-form player Aditi Mutatkar proved her mettle as she secured a berth in Women’s Singles quarter-final after beating Alesia Zaitsava of Belarus in the round-of-16 at Austrian International Challenge 2012 in Austria, on Friday, February 24.
Aditi played to her maximum potential in this entertaining fight and remained successful in winning it in straight games with a tight margin.
On the other hand, Zaitsava also put up superb show of quality badminton but failed to dominate the rallies in the concluding phase of both games and lost the match in straight sets.
Right from the start, Aditi occupied the driving seat and remained ahead of her rival in the first half. Until the one-minute interval in the first set, the Indian was far ahead at 11-6 on the score board.
After the break, Zaitsava played better game as she pushed her Indian opponent on the back foot by playing fast game at net and managed to level the score by reaching at 12-12.
Zaitsava continued her elevated play in the concluding part of opening game and reached at 19-15. At this stage, Aditi changed her tactics and played attacking strokes from all areas of the court.
The Indian played positive and composed badminton and earned four points in a row to level the score by reaching at 19-19.
She displayed a wonderful performance and saved one set point and went on to take the opening game with a 22-20 score on the board.
In the following set, both ladies entertained the crowd with their elevated skills. They remained toe-to-toe in the opening half by playing at their best speed.
The tempo of the rallies was quite fast and no one could manage a reasonable lead until the end of first half.
After the break, both shuttlers again played at the same speed and progressed while remaining equal on the score board. They reached at the breath-taking stage of 20-20 when the Indian showed her impressive skills and won the fight with a tight margin of
22-20.
Aditi emerged as the winner of this straight-set thrilling fight with a 22-20 and 22-20 score on the board.
Tags: