Lee Chong Wei trounces Tommy Sugiarto in pre-quarterfinal of Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold 2011
Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei, who is currently World Number one, got rid of Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia, in the Men’s Singles pre-quarterfinal of Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold 2011, at the indoor arena at Alor Setar, Malaysia on Thursday, May 5.
The Malaysian had to work hard against the aggressive Sugiarto, who showed no mercy to Suppanyu Avihingsanon of Thailand, in the second round. In the quarter-final, Chong Wei will face Brice Leverdez of France, who defeated Beryno Jiann Tze Wong of Malaysia
in the pre-quarterfinal.
The top seed started the game in a slow way, which helped the Indonesian in finding some momentum. However, the Malaysian controlled the game by moving fast on the court. In the first half of the set, the score remained tight at 10-10. It was a thrilling
fight in front of the Malaysian crowd that was supporting to their national hero. Chong Wei was just ahead of Sugiarto at 11-10.
In the later part of the opening game, the World Number one geared up the pace of the rallies to make a difference and reached 12-14. The Indonesian continued playing positive badminton and remained successful in levelling the score 17-17. At this important
stage of the match, Chong Wei had to put extra pace in his strokes and reached 19-17.
The Indonesian was playing superb badminton. He again levelled the game by playing wonderful strokes and reached 19-19. The crowd became silent at this stage of the match. However, Chong Wei managed to win the set by a tight difference of 21-19, in 19 minutes.
Sugiarto opened the second set in a thrilling way and took a two-point lead of 3-2, which was levelled by the opponent in the next two rallies. The score was 6-6 where the Indonesian stunned everybody by creating a huge difference of 10 points and reached
16-6. Chong Wei reduced the gap by taking four consecutive points 10-16.
At this stage, the Malaysian found his momentum and came closer to the opponent at 15-17. Chong Wei entertained the crowd by levelling the score 18-18. Sugiarto was quite helpless against the aggressive Malaysian, who snatched the set by a 21-19 difference,
in 21 minutes. The finishing result of this tight 40-minute battle was, 21-18 and 21-19.
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