Japan’s Naoki Kawamae and Shoji Sato surge into final of the Russian Open Grand Prix
Japan’s Naoki Kawamae and Shoji Sato trounced Russia’s Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov, in the Men’s Doubles semi-final showdown of the Russian Open Grand Prix 2011, at Vladivostok, Russia, on Saturday, July 2.
In the semi-final match, Naoki and Shoji, who are top seeds in the Russia Open, proved too strong for the third seed local pair of Ivanov and Sozonov. The Japanese duo played tremendous badminton to crush the Russians in straight games by consuming just
37 minutes in the court.
Naoki and Shoji, who are currently placed at Number 14 spot in the Men’s Doubles world rankings, have been delivering superb performances for the last six months and have defeated many top pairs on different occasions.
The opening set of the game was close, as both pairs remained toe-to-toe in the whole game. It was a thrilling fight as the top seeds were up against the local heroes, who were being supported by a huge Russian crowd.
The score reached at the concluding phase of the opening set, where both sides stood at the breathtaking stage of 25-25, by playing at the same level. However, the Japanese pair executed some fabulous strokes at the net and clinched the first game by a tight
margin of 27-25, in 22 minutes.
The following game was also a tough fight as the Russians geared up their speed in the starting points. However, as the match progressed, the Japanese duo increased their pace at the net and started to take control over the rallies. Until the one-minute
break, Naoki and Shoji were slightly ahead at 11-9.
After the interval, the Japanese shuttlers maintained their hold on the match and spared no chance for their challengers to fight back in the contest. Naoki and Shoji ended the second set with a decent gap of 21-17, in just 15 minutes. The final score of
this 37-minute straight-set match was 27-25 and 21-17.
In the final showdown, Naoki and Shoji will take on their team-mates, Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa, who got rid of Russia’s Vitalij Durkin and Alexandr Nikolaenko, in the semi-final.
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