Li-Ning Victorian International: Anup Sridhar punishes Maika Phillips in Men’s Singles second round
India’s Anup Sridhar showed his aggressive skills on court and advanced into Men’s Singles round-of-16 after thrashing Maika Phillips of New Zealand in second round encounter at 2012 Li-Ning Victorian International in Australia, on Thursday, June 28.
Anup, who is second seed in Men’s Singles main draw of the championship, has been working hard to find his rhythm back for the last couple of years.
While contesting against the lower ranked Kiwi shuttler, the Indian showed his class by playing fast and dominating badminton and took just 18 minutes to thrash him in straight games with a one-sided score.
Phillips, on the other hand, did not expect such a harsh treatment on court from his higher ranked Indian opponent as he failed to match the speed and perfection of Anup and lost the battle in a lopsided fashion.
In the first set, Anup entered into the court in a confident way as he played fast and controlled badminton and easily built a stunning lead on the board until the mid-game break.
After the one-minute interval, Phillips tried to play fast badminton but failed to get the bird in time as the powerful shots of his rival were landing in right areas.
Anup continued playing positive badminton all the way and clinched the opening set without any problem by a stunning 21-7 score on the board.
The second game was almost the same when the Indian again did not let his rival to get a good flow in opening rallies and took an early lead easily.
The power play of Anup was impressive as he did not miss any chance to bury the bird by executing his powerful down the line smashes and established a staggering gap until the break.
After the interval, Anup stretched the gap without putting in extra effort as his opponent conceded many points by hitting the bird into the net or outside of the court.
The second seeded Indian faced no trouble in grabbing the second game from Phillips with a one-sided 21-6 score on the board.
Anup tamed Phillips in straight games in just 18 minutes with a lopsided score of 21-7 and 21-6.
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