China’s Wang Shixian grabs the women’s singles title at the All England Open Premier Super Series
China’s Wang Shixian won the women’s singles crown after beating Eriko Hirose of Japan in the final of the All England Open Premier Super Series 2011, at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England on Sunday. The top seed Shixian consumed 55 minutes
to chuck out the Japanese, who crushed Petya Nedelcheva of Bulgaria, in the semi-final of the event.
Shixian started the game in a defensive manner and remained composed to avoid mistakes. Both ladies played well to advance in the game and progressed with the same pace. The score was 5-5 when the top seed increased the pace, but could not take lead as Hirose
was also playing an impressive game. Shixian was leading the game by a narrow difference of 11-10 at the interval in the opening set.
After the 60-second-break, both shuttlers again progressed in the game without sparing any chance for the opponent to take a clear lead. The crowd went crazy with the superb performance from both ladies who were working very hard to dominate the game. The
world number one, Shixian remained unable to dictate the rallies as Hirose was very quick against the strokes of the Chinese player.
The score reached the crucial stage of 22-22, as Shixian played some wonderful strokes and grabbed the remaining two points in a row. The Chinese player won the opening set with a 24-22 score on the board.
The second game was also tight, as both players remained toe-to-toe until the interval where Shixian was ahead of Hirose by 11-9. The Chinese player was playing better this time, as she became more aggressive and stretched the lead by 15-11. Hirose did her
best to reduce the gap, but failed to stop the winning run of the opponent who managed to win the second set with a decent margin of 21-18, in 25 minutes. The concluding score of the 55-minute-final battle was, 24-22 and 21-18.
Shixian clinched the third women’s singles title of 2011, as she has already won the BWF Super Series Finals and Malaysia Open Super Series, in the month of January.
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