BWF Superseries Finals: Chen Long struggles against Hans Kristian Vittinghus – Badminton Feature
China’s top shuttler Chen Long found a tricky start in his first match in Men’s Singles Group B when faced tough resistance in winning against Denmark’s Hans Kristian Vittinghus at the BWF Superseries Finals 2012 in China, on Wednesday, December 12.
The World Number Two Long, who is also second seed in the tournament, had to dig into his arsenal to produce better form and he managed to overpower his talented Danish opponent in a hard-fought contest that took 69 minutes of incredible badminton.
Long worked really hard in the opening game but failed to stop his challenger from winning it. However, he bounced back in the match and took the following games to seal off a decent victory by finishing up the match in rubber sets.
On the contrary, the lower ranked Vittinghus troubled his second seeded local challenger in the opening set and took it. Nevertheless, he failed to match the speed and aggression of Chinese shuttler in the following games and lost the match in a respectable
fashion.
The local crowd helped Long to elevate his play and he did not disappoint the huge crowd by playing to his maximum potential all the way and survived the scare by ending up the battle in his favour.
The opening game of this Men’s Singles contest was absolutely impressive when both shuttlers showed aggression in the arena and managed to stay close until the end of opening half.
After the break, the local shuttler tried his best to create pressure on his Danish challenger but he failed to make any difference as he could not put up strong show in the ending points and eventually lost the opening set with a close margin of 20-22.
However, the second seeded Long showed a wonderful aggression on court from the starting points of second game and took over the control from his opponent.
The lofty Long showed his attacking skills in the arena and he remained successful in setting up a huge lead on the board until the end of opening half.
After the break in the second set of this interesting clash, the in-form local shuttler continued his aggressive run in the arena and maintained a huge difference on the board.
Chinese player was incredibly fast in taking the bird early and he did not take any pressure all the way which helped him to wrap up the second game with a comfortable 21-15 score on the board.
In the final set, the incredible Long did not lose his superiority at any stage and maintained pressure on his Danish rival who failed to find a good flow.
Until the end of first half, the higher ranked Long remained his consistent run in the arena and he remained successful in setting up a stunning lead until the break.
After the interval, Long continued putting up spectacular show of attacking badminton and he managed to wind up the final game with a one-sided 21-11 score on the board.
The second seeded Chinese man remained successful in winning this nail-biting contest in three games with a reasonable margin of 20-22, 21-15 and 21-11.
With this victory in Group B, Long has got strong chances to reach into the semi-final as he needs just one more match to secure his place in the top four.
Tags: