Chen Long escapes Men’s Singles first round scare at Indonesia Open Premier Super Series 2012
China’s aggressive player Chen Long had to dig into his reserves to escape defeat from the hands of Malaysia’s Muhammad Hafiz Hashim in Men’s Singles first round of Indonesia Open Premier Super Series 2012 on Wednesday, June 13, in Jakarta.
The World Number 3 Long, who is positioned at the top in Men’s Singles seeding in the tournament, worked extra hard to defeat his lower ranked Malaysian opponent in an epic three-set battle.
The top seeded Long found a severe treatment from Hafiz in the opening set but he managed to win the second game to level the score. However, he remained lucky in the final set and bagged it with a narrow margin on the score board.
On the other hand, the World Number 24 Hafiz showed his class in the first set and took it with an impressive margin. However, he failed to continue his stunning performance in the following sets and lost the match to his higher ranked Chinese rival with
a respectable score.
In the first set, both experienced shuttlers played fast badminton and entertained the local fans with their incredible craft in the court.
Nevertheless, was Hafiz who took a comfortable lead on the board until the one-minute break.
After the interval, the Chinese tried his level best to make the score levelled but failed badly as he could not focus in the game and lost the set with a 16-21 score on the board.
In the following set, Long played different badminton as he became aggressive and did not let his Malaysian opponent to take control of the game this time.
The impressive game plan of Long helped him to take the second set with a stunning 21-11 score on the board.
In the final set of this thrilling battle, the higher ranked Chinese managed a reasonable gap until the one-minute interval by reaching at 11-8.
After the break, Hafiz showed his brilliance by playing positive and aggressive game at net and ended the lead of his Chinese challenger by reaching at 15-15.
The Malaysian continued his elevated play and managed a gap of 18-15 when Long put in everything he had and came from behind to take the set with a tight margin of 21-19.
The top seeded Long narrowly defeated Hafiz in a thrilling rubber set encounter with a sensational score of 16-21, 21-11 and 21-19.
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