Ben Beckman and Fabian Hammes advance to the round of 16 in the Croatian International 2011
England’s Ben Beckman and Germany’s Fabian Hammes have booked their place in the Men’s Singles round of 16 in the Croatian International 2011, in Zagreb on 1
April. Beckman defeated David Obernosterer of Austria in a straight set match, as Fabian brushed aside Kieran Merrilees of Germany in the same fashion. In the round of 16, Beckman will face the top seed Raul Must of Estonia and Fabian will meet either
Emil Holst of Denmark or Petr Koukal of the Czech Republic.
Beckman played a calculated game in the first half of the opening game, as he manipulated all weaker areas of the opponent and quickly reached at 11-7 until the interval. David missed some easy scoring opportunities and remained trailing behind the opponent
in the first set. After the break, Beckman always maintained a two-point difference and won the set with a close margin of 21-18 in 18 minutes.
David put up a great show in the second set by playing a perfect game in the first half. He was leading the game by a slight difference of 11-10. Beckman made a strong come-back and levelled the score at 12-12. Both players were trying to keep the bird low
by hitting powerful smashes and parallel pushes. The fight became more thrilling for the players as well as for the crowd, as the score reached 22-22. However, Beckman controlled the game in the end and won the set by scoring two consecutive points with a
tight margin of 24-22, in 21 minutes.
In the bottom half of the Men’s Singles draw, Fabian proved his worth against Kieran after a tight match. The German failed to take a lead until the ending points of the first set, where the score reached 20-20. The crowd could not have asked for a better
game, as both shuttlers played top quality badminton. It was Fabian who scored the last two points and won the first set by a 22-20 margin in 17 minutes.
The German remained ahead in the second set and spared no chance for the Scotsman to dominate the rallies. Kieran narrowed the gap by reaching 14-16, as Fabian became perfect in his stroke selection and execution. The German spent 16 minutes to win the second
set by a decent margin of 21-16.
Tags: