Juan Gu beats Aya Ohori in quarter-final round of 2013 Malaysia Grand Prix Gold
Women’s Singles campaigner Juan Gu of Singapore played flawless badminton in round of eight and qualified for the semi-finals of Yonex Sunrise Malaysia Grand Prix Gold on May 2, 2013.
This quarter-final match pit her against Aya Ohori and their meeting prolonged to 65 minutes before ending with decisive figures of 15-21, 21-18 and 21-19.
This hard fought tussle proved a real test of their mental and physical fitness as they challenged each other throughout the three games.
Tough, the Singaporean shuttler knelt down in the opening set but she managed to rise on her toes in the ending two games.
On the other hand, Aya Ohori failed to continue with her top form and crashed out of this GP Gold event in a woeful manner.
The Japanese player raised her chances of success by performing exceedingly well in the opening set.
She launched a brisk attack and confounded the opposing shuttler with a series of power packed strokes. She capitalised this psychological edge and bagged many valuable points in a row.
This initial deficit proved a severe blow for Juan Gu as she could not rise from the dust until the announcement of the break.
After the one-minute interval, Aya Ohori injected more intensity in her attack and confined her rival in the rear court.
She kept on moving forward on the points table at a steady pace and doubled her total in third quarter of the set. She registered 21-15 score and pocketed this crucial match point.
However, things changed for her in the following game as Juan Gu showed a transformed character and brought the contest to the right balance.
The Singaporean player played with great conviction and established a strong grip over game way before half time.
In the second half of the set, few back-to-back mistakes weakened her grip but she reinstated her dominance when it mattered. She placed a tight yet favourable total of 21-18 and setup a nerve-racking decider.
Third set kept swinging between them all the way to game point situation and finally this segment concluded when Juan Gu put a winning margin of 21-19.
With this victory, she qualified for the semi-finals where Busanan Ongbumrungpan of Thailand will be waiting for her.
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