Indonesia Open Premier Super Series: Li Xuerui stuns Wang Yihan to surge into Women’s Singles final
China’s young and aggressive player Li Xuerui showed her class as she stormed into Women’s Singles final after stunning her higher ranked compatriot Wang Yihan in semi-final clash at the Indonesia Open Premier Super Series 2012 on Saturday, June 16, in Indonesia.
The fourth seed Xuerui, who has been showing her elite skills throughout the tournament, continued her winning streak in semi-final when she crushed the World Number One Yihan in an authoritative fashion.
Xuerui, who is currently World Number 3 in Women’s Singles world rankings, showed her class against the top seeded Yihan and registered a comprehensive victory in straight games while taking just 40 minutes in the court.
In the meanwhile, Yihan could not play her normal game and also failed to deal with the mounting pressure throughout the contest. She lost to her talented team-mate in straight games without showing a strong character.
Right from the initial stage of opening set, both Chinese shuttlers played to their maximum potential and pushed each other in all areas of the court to take a reasonable lead.
However, no one could manage a gap until the end on opening half of first set and the tempo of the game was equal from both sides and they also played positive and safe badminton.
After the break, it was the lower ranked Xuerui who injected more power into her shots by taking the bird early and started to dictate the pace.
Xuerui was impressive in the accurate execution of her shots and eventually wrapped up the first game with a four-point margin of 21-17.
In the second game, Yihan tried to change her tactics and remained close to her in-form opponent but failed to take a reasonable advantage on the score board until the one-minute interval.
After the one-minute break, Xuerui again took over the control and started to dominate the game by playing attacking badminton.
The lower ranked Chinese lady was fully focused in the court and secured the second set with a superb 21-14 score on the board.
The in-form Xuerui won this semi-final battle in two games with an impressive margin of 21-17 and 21-14.
In the final, the Chinese shuttler will face India’s Saina Nehwal who ousted Sung Ji Hyun of Korea in the other semi-final.
Tags: