Hiroyuki Endo - Kenichi Hayakawa surge into Men’s Doubles semi-final: Indonesia Open Grand Prix Gold
Japan’s Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa secured a podium berth as they crushed Indonesia’s Yohanes Rendy Sugiarto and Afiat Yuris Wirawan in the Men’s Doubles semi-final of the Indonesia Open Grand Prix Gold, on Saturday, October 1, at East Kalimantan,
Indonesia.
Endo and Hayakawa, ranked Number 14 in the world, delivered a phenomenal performance against the Indonesian shuttlers and finished the encounter in just 33 minutes. The Japanese duo remained dominant all the way in this straight-set contest. The Indonesians
played well but not enough to get rid of their impressive Japanese opponents.
In the opening set, both sides entertained the huge Indonesian crowd by playing top-quality badminton. Endo and Hayakawa were quicker in taking the bird early and made their local challengers move around in the court. Until the break, the Japanese pair reached
at 11-8.
After getting back from a one-minute rest, the Japanese shuttlers kept on pressuring their rivals by dictating the pace of the rallies. Rendy Sugiarto and Yuris Wirawan failed to dominate the game despite having support of the huge local crowd. Endo and
Hayakawa maintained their grip on the match and never lost their focus at any stage. They won the opening set with a decent difference of 21-16 in just 15 minutes.
In the second game of this semi-final fight, the Indonesians played well this time as they changed their strategy and started to play net strokes. Their tactics worked well and they managed to progress closely against their opponents. Until the interval,
the Indonesians were not far behind by reaching at 9-11.
After the break, Endo and Hayakawa employed an attacking style of play and tried to push their rivals in a defensive position. The score remained close as wonderful exchanges of long and attacking rallies was displayed from both sides.
However, Endo and Hayakawa played smart badminton in the ending points and grabbed the game in 18 minutes with a 21-18 score on the board. The concluding result of this two-set match was 21-16 and 21-18.
In the final battle, Endo and Hayakawa will be up against another Indonesian pair of Mohammad Ahsan and Bona Septano, who are currently World Number Six and top seeds in the Men’s Doubles draw of the Indonesia Open.
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