Lee Hyun Il and Pablo Abian show exit to seeded shuttlers in the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold 2011
Korea’s Lee Hyun Il and Spain’s Pablo Abian entered into the quarter-final stage by proving their strength against seeded opponents in the Men’s singles pre-quarterfinals of the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold 2011, at Basel, Switzerland, on March 17, 2011.
Lee proved too strong for his fifth seed team-mate, Wan Ho Shon, by winning the battle in three games, whereas, Pablo crushed the ninth seed, Hafiz Muhammad Hashim of Malaysia. In the quarter-final round, both winners will fight against each other to penetrate
into the semi-final of the tournament.
Lee started the game with his usual calm and quick style and remained dominant throughout the opening half of the first set and reached at 11-5 at the interval. He remained focused by controlling the pace of the bird and spared no chance for his opponent
to fight back in the game. Lee won the first set in just 15 minutes with a stunning difference of 21-12.
Ho Shon started to turn the situation in his favour by playing aggressively in the second set. Lee was down at 8-11 in the first part of the second game. Ho Shon clinched the second set by a 21-16 margin in 17 minutes.
In the deciding game, Lee accelerated the pace from the start of the game and dictated the rallies by keeping the shuttle c**k low from the net. Throughout the set, Ho Shon was trailing behind his senior opponent who ended the set with a one-sided margin
of 21-11, in just 13 minutes. The match took 45 minutes with a 12-21, 21-16 and 21-11 score on the board.
In the other Men’s Singles encounter, Pablo showed no mercy to the experienced Hafiz Hashim and took only 27 minutes to beat him in straight-sets. In the first game, the Spanish took only 12 minutes to win the set with a huge margin on 21-11.
Hafiz Hashim tried to get back in the game but failed as Pablo was playing at his best. The Spanish remained on the driving seat in the entire set and won it with a 21-14 margin, in just 15 minutes. The concluding score of the match was 21-11 and 21-14.
Tags: