Indonesia Open 2012: Tontowi, Liliyana confound Markis Kido, Pia Zebadiah to surge into semi-finals
Mixed Doubles partners Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir overwhelmed Markis Kido-Pia Zebadiah Bernadeth and danced their way to semi-finals of Djarum Indonesia Open on June 15, 2012.
Both teams exhibited commendable fighting spirit and remained head-to-head for 59 minutes before ending this semi-final tussle with 15-21, 21-15 and 11-21.
The Istora Senayan Stadium of Jakarta was filled to its brim as local crowd assembled to support native pairs in the home event.
Now World Number three Indonesian pair will try to raise country’s flag in second last round of the tournament and they will have to surpass World Number two Chinese campaigners Xu Chen-Ma Jin.
Earlier in round of eight, Tontowi and Liliyana remained at attacking end in most part of the contest as they prevailed in opening and concluding segments of the show.
Meanwhile, the other local pair could only live their moment in middle and failed to register their class in remaining chunk of the game.
The first set of match started with Tontowi-Liliyana grabbing five consecutive points to reach at 5-1 and steadily moved forward despite of losing couple of vital rallies.
Their 11-8 total until half time gave them confidence to start second half of the set in vigorous manner and they raised their lead to six with 14-8 margin.
At this critical stage Markis Kido-Pia Zebadiah gathered some pace and narrowed the gap at 14-15 but it was not enough to avoid a 21-15 defeat in first set.
However, they did not lose heart and proved their point in very next game. They showed their intentions straight away in the beginning when they snatched seven back-to-back points and placed a decent lead with 7-2 margin.
First half of the set got concluded with Markis Kido and Pia Zebadiah enjoying upper hand with 11-7 total.
Later part of the game also saw them in prime touch as they maintained this advantage all the way to last moment and bagged second set with 21-15.
This 1-1 match score position aroused audience’s hopes for a neck-to-neck competition in the decider but it turned flat unexpectedly.
The prime Indonesian duo Tontowi-Liliyana wrapped the show by registering decisive figure of 21-11.
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