Kazumasa Sakai passes first round test against Stanislav Pukhov at Russia Open Grand Prix 2012
Kazumasa Sakai, a talented shuttler from Japan, displayed a stunning performance in Men’s Singles first round when he overwhelmed Russia’s Stanislav Pukhov at the Russia Open Grand Prix 2012 on Wednesday, June 27, in Vladivostok.
The aggressive Japanese was in full swing while playing in opening round of the tournament and managed to chuck out his Russian opponent in an interesting contest.
Kazumasa had to dig deep into his reserves to grab the first game with a tight margin. However, he did not face any trouble in the following set and overpowered his rival with a decent score.
On the other hand, Pukhov put up superb show of aggressive play in opening set but remained unlucky in the ending points and lost it. However, he could not maintain his aggression in the second set and lost the match to his Japanese challenger in straight
games.
In the first set, Kazumasa played with precision but failed to take any advantage as his local opponent was quick in taking the bird early from all corners.
Both men employed their hard-to-learn skills and did not miss any chance to finish off rallies. However, the Japanese shuttler was slightly ahead of Pukhov at 11-10 until the mid-game interval.
After the break, Pukhov showed his class by playing attacking badminton and took a reasonable lead of 16-12.
At this stage, the Japanese made the score levelled without wasting any time in the court as he became aggressive at net and pushed his rival on back foot.
However, the Russian managed to reach at 23-22 but failed to take the ending point as his Japanese opponent put up staggering show and came from behind to secure the set with a tight margin of 25-23.
In the second game, Pukhov did not give up fighting as he showed strong resistance on court and remained close to his opponent until the one-minute interval.
After the break, Kazumasa increased his speed and started to stretch the gap by executing powerful smashes. He was in full command at the concluding phase and took the set with a good margin of 21-17.
Kazumasa ousted Pukhov in an interesting straight-set contest in 49 minutes with a 25-23 and 21-17 score on the board.
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