Canada Open Grand Prix: Li Michelle escapes Kurumi Yonao scare in Women’s Singles round-of-16
Canada’s ace shuttler Li Michelle had to struggle extra hard on court at the Women’s Singles round-of-16 stage when she narrowly overpowered Japan’s Kurumi Yonao at the Yonex Canada Open Grand Prix 2012 on Thursday, July 12, at Richmond, Canada.
The World Number 24 Michelle, who is currently positioned at number one in Women’s Singles seeding of Canada Open, had to dig into her reserves to produce better form and remained lucky in ending points of final set to oust her talented Japanese opponent.
The top seeded Michelle played superb game in opening set but failed to maintain her rhythm in the following game. Nevertheless, she remained lucky in the deciding game as she managed to win it with a narrow margin on the board.
Kurumi Yonao, in the meanwhile, was outstanding on court as she proved her worth by putting up staggering show of top quality badminton and troubled her rival throughout the contest. However, she failed to earn ending points of final set and lost to Michelle
with a respectable margin.
In the first game, Michelle played in a relaxed but controlled manner as she did not face any aggression from her lower ranked opponent and sailed smoothly to take an 11-6 advantage until the mid-game interval.
After the break, the higher ranked Michelle continued making her home fans happy by playing flawless badminton and took the set with a stunning difference of 21-12.
However, the case was different in the following set when Kurumi showed her impressive class by playing attacking badminton. Until the break, the Japanese was leading the game with an 11-9 margin.
After the interval, Michelle tried her best to stop the advancements of her rival but failed to remain positive and lost the set with a margin of 15-21.
In the deciding set, Michelle was comfortable in the court as she dictated the pace from opening rallies and reached at 11-5 until the break.
The local lady continued her fireworks and reached at 16-6 when Kurumi stunned everyone by playing remarkable badminton and ended the huge gap at 18-18.
The score progressed closely at this stage and reached at 21-21 when Michelle played a few beautiful shots by taking the bird early and won the set with a tight score of 23-21.
The top seeded Michelle emerged as the winner in this fabulous battle with a superb score of 21-12, 15-21 and 23-21.
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