Kazumasa Sakai overpowers Zulfadli Zulkiffli in an epic semi-final battle at Russia Open Grand Prix
Kazumasa Sakai, one of the most talented young shuttler of Japan, showed a staggering performance in the Men’s Singles semi-final contest when he ousted Malaysia’s Zulfadli Zulkiffli at the Russia Open Grand Prix 2012 in Russia, on Saturday, June 30.
The Japanese has been impressive throughout the tournament and he continued his stunning performance in the semi-final encounter against his Malaysian rival and emerged as victorious in a mouth watering battle.
Kazumasa was lost the first game but did not give up on court and managed to win the second set with a tight margin. He continued putting up tremendous show and narrowly took the final game to register his supremacy over Zulfadli in a thrilling rubber-set contest.
In contrast, the Junior World Champion Zulfadli started his run in quarter-final battle in a positive fashion and won the opening game. However, he remained unlucky in following sets as he failed to finish the ending points and lost the match with a narrow margin on the board.
In the first game, both shuttlers put up spectacular show of attacking badminton and showed their brilliance while remaining close on the board until the mid-game break.
After the interval, they continued fighting in the same spirited manner and it was the Japanese who managed a 16-14 lead when he lost his focus and eventually dropped the set with a 16-21 score on the board.
In the following set, both men showed their aggression again on court as they pushed each other to the limit but failed to take any considerable advantage as the score remained close until 18-18.
Zulfadli managed to reach at 20-18 but lost two match points as Kazumasa played flawless badminton and came from behind to grab the set with a margin of 22-20.
In the decider, the match continued in the similar thrilling way and the crowd could not have asked for better show as both shuttlers were putting in their maximum.
Zulfadli was again the first to reach at 20-19 but again failed to finish the game as the Japanese showed his elevated play in the ending points and took the game with a tight score of 22-20.
Kazumasa overpowered Zulfadli in this 68-minute epic semi-final contest with a nail-biting margin of 16-21, 22-20 and 22-20 score on the board.
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