Kestutis Navickas ousts Iztok Utrosa to enter into final of the Lithuanian International 2011
Lithuania’s Kestutis Navickas has proved his worth after beating Iztok Utrosa of Slovenia in the Men’s Singles semi-final of the Lithuanian International 2011, in Lithuania, on Saturday, June 11.
The top seed, Kestutis, played to his full potential to beat the fifth seed, Iztok, in a thrilling rubber-set fight which lasted for 44 minutes.
Right from the start of the opening set Kestutis, who is currently World Number 44 in the Men’s Singles world rankings, played superb badminton by employing his skills and perfect stroke placements.
The local hero started the game in an impressive way, as he played with the highest speed and built a good lead of 11-7 in the first-half of the opening set. Iztok was struggling throughout the entire set and was clearly lacking the power in his strokes.
Kestutis finished up the opening set in a superb way, as he remained ahead of his opponent in the whole game and finished it up by a 21-15 difference in just 15 minutes.
In the second game, Iztok changed his strategy and started to play with precision to tackle the speed of the top seed, who seemed a little relaxed. The Slovenian built a reasonable lead of 11-8 in the first-half.
In the second-half of the set, Iztok played in a planned game against the top seed. The Lithuanian shuttler made crucial mistakes in the concluding phase of the game, which cost him the set as his opponent was able to capitalise on his errors. Kestutis lost
the second game in 16 minutes by a 21-18 margin.
In the deciding game, Kestutis delivered a terrific performance in front of the cheering local crowd and finished the set by consuming only 13 minutes with a huge margin of 21-6. The 44-minute three-set contest ended up with a 21-15, 18-21 and 21-6 score
on the board.
In the Men’s Singles final of the championship, Kestutis will contest against the second seed, Scott Evans of Ireland, who crushed the third seed, Raul Must of Estonia, in the semi-final showdown of the event.
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