Inthanon Ratchanok trounces Li Xuerui in Women’s Singles quarter-final of the 2011 US Open GP Gold
Thailand’s Inthanon Ratchanok advanced into the Women’s Singles semi-final after trouncing China’s Li Xuerui in the quarter-final of the 2011 US Open GP Gold, at Orange, California, on Thursday, July 14.
The seventh seed, Inthanon, who is currently occupying 14th spot in the Women’s Singles world rankings, played tremendous badminton against the higher ranked Xuerui, who is the World Number Twelve at the moment. The Thai shuttler displayed her
dominating skills in the court, as she put up a stunning show against the talented Chinese player.
Inthanon had to remain consistent for 45 minutes to defeat the fourth seed Chinese in a straight-set battle. The encounter was a wonderful display of top-class badminton from both players involved.
In the first game, the score remained tied until the concluding phase of the set. Both shuttlers were trying to control the bird at the net, in an attempt to score important points for themselves. The score was 21-21, when the Chinese made a crucial error,
which helped Inthanon to win the game by a 23-21 margin, after working hard for 26 minutes.
The Thai worked quite well in the second game and was in complete control form the start of the set. Xuerui used all the skills and strokes she had in her arsenal, but failed to shake the flow of her rival, who was cruising in the second game. Until the
break, Inthanon managed an 11-8 advantage.
After the break, Inthanon was highly positive in her approach as she played a parallel game to keep her opponent under pressure. Xuerui failed to play her normal game, as her rival played well-planned badminton. Her strategy worked in the end, when she grabbed
the second game with a decent difference of 21-18, in 19 minutes.
The concluding score of this wonderful quarter-final match was 23-21 and 21-18, which lasted for 45 minutes. In the semi-final showdown, Inthanon will take on Sayaka Sato of Japan, who crushed second seed, Shao Chieh Cheng of Chinese Taipei in the quarter-final
battle.
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