Hong Kong Open Super Series: Tine Baun stuns Wang Shixian in the Women’s Singles semi-final
Danish players always remain ahead in spoiling the smooth run of Chinese shuttlers by beating them on crucial occasions. Similar situation cropped up when Denmark’s Tine Baun stunned the World Number One and second seed in the event, Wang Shixian of China
in the Women’s Singles semi-final of the 2011 Hong Kong Open Super Series, on Saturday, November 19, in Hong Kong.
Baun, who is the top shuttler in Denmark and number seven in the world rankings, played incredible badminton against the higher ranked Chinese opponent and emerged as the winner by finishing up the thrilling match in three games. She took 50 minutes to send
Shixian packing and advanced into the final of the championship.
The seventh seed Danish played on the highest level of the game in the opening set of the match and took it easily with a wonderful margin. However, in the second game, the second seed Shixian worked extra hard and levelled the score by winning the set with
a narrow margin. In the deciding game, it was Baun who won it impressively and stamped her authority over the Chinese.
The match started with the aggressive play of Baun as she made her higher ranked rival moving around in all corners of the court. Shixian failed to produce good strokes as she had to work hard to create gaps in her opponent’s court. Baun remained focused
in the whole game and ended it in a convincing fashion by a remarkable margin of 21-10 in just 15 minutes.
In the following game, both ladies entertained the crowd by playing with precision. They remained toe-to-toe by playing at great speed and employed everything in their arsenal to take a reasonable lead. However, none of them could manage it and the score
remained equal until the concluding phase of the second game. At this crucial stage, the Danish failed to dominate the rallies and lost the set with a tight score of 19-21 in 19 minutes.
It was a different story in the deciding set as the Danish played planned and positive badminton against the confused Shixian who failed to control the pace of the rallies. Powerful smashes coupled with spinning net shots of the Danish lady spared no chance
for Shixian to survive in the final set.
Baun finished up the third game with a one-sided 21-13 score in 16 minutes. The end result of this semi-final fight was 21-10, 19-21 and 21-13.
In the final contest, Baun will take on another Chinese shuttler, Wang Xin, who defeated her compatriot and top seed Wang Yihan in the other semi-final match.
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