Korea Open Grand Prix Gold: Sung Ji Hyun stuns Liu Xin (F) in the Women’s Singles semi-final
Korea’s spirited shuttler, Sung Ji Hyun remains on the right track to win glory as she has defeated China’s Liu Xin (F) in the Women’s Singles semi-final of the 2011 Korea Open Grand Prix Gold, in Korea, on Saturday, December 10.
The second seed of the tournament, Ji Hyun, who is currently World Number 12 in the Women’s Singles world rankings, played to her maximum potential and defeated Xin (F), who is World Number 11 at the moment. The Korean worked hard for 82 minutes to chuck
out the Chinese rival in a match that ended in three games.
The Korean played superb game in the first set and took it with a close margin. In the following set, the Chinese shuttler remained dominant in the whole set and levelled the match. Nevertheless, Ji Hyun found her flow in the final game and won it with a
good margin to advance into the final of the home event.
The opening set progressed in an interesting way as both ladies grabbed the attention of the local crowd throughout the match. Until the break in the first game, no one could establish a comfortable lead as both were playing at the same level.
After the break, both shuttlers continued playing top class badminton until the ending points when the Korean scored the winning point and took the game with a tight 22-20 score.
In the second set of the match, the Chinese came back in a different mood as she played attacking and positive badminton. The Korean could not maintain her impressive play in this set as she became a little relaxed. Her slow speed and negative game caused
her loss of the second game with a one-sided score of 12-21.
In the final set, both shuttlers progressed equally by remaining toe-to-toe until the one-minute break. Ji Hyun, who was having the support of home fans, changed her tactics and became quicker at the net area to push her opponent on the back foot.
This plan worked well for her as she remained successful in building up pressure on her opponent and won the game with a decent score of 21-17. The final score of this thrilling semi-final fight was 22-20, 12-21 and 21-17.
In the final showdown, Ji Hyun will take on another Chinese, Li Han, who defeated her compatriot Xuerui Li in the other semi-final battle.
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