Lilyana Natsir and Tantowi Ahmad win the Mixed Doubles crown in India Open Super Series 2011
Indonesia’s Lilyana Natsir and Tantowi Ahmad have won the Mixed Doubles crown after beating team-mates, Fran Kurniawan and Pia Zebadiah Bernadeth in the final of the India Open Super Series 2011, held on Sunday, May 1, 2011.
The fourth seed pair, Natsir and Tantowi, faced no problem in beating the third seed couple of Kurniawan and Pia Zebadiah, who had tamed the fifth seed duo, Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goh of Malaysia, in the semi-final.
The title winners took 44 minutes in the court to chuck out their compatriots in a straight-set match.
Lilyana, who has won this event with Tantowi, is determined to continue her winning streak in the upcoming events. She also emerged as the Silver medallist in the 2008 Beijing Olympics with her former partner, Nova Widianto.
Lilyana was hopeful to win this title and wants to remain focused for the future event. The Indonesian player, after winning the final match, said, “But, we still have a long journey to walk on. We should not be satisfied of what we have gained today just
yet. We need to stay focus because there are a lot of matches to come.”
Coach of Mixed Doubles, Richard Mainaky, is happy with the performance of the newly formed couple. He said, “They performed well as taught during training sessions. The maximum target was actually just reaching semifinals.”
In the opening set of the match, Natsir and Tantowi managed to build pressure on their opponents and established a good lead of 11-8 in the first half. Kurniawan and Pia Zebadiah played well in the second part of the opening set and drew near to the opponents,
by reaching at 18-19.
However, the fourth seeds played better badminton and won the opening set in 21 minutes by a 21-18 margin.
The second set was thrilling as both parties remained toe-to-toe throughout the set. It was a close fight from the start and the score progressed with the same pace. Both the Indonesian couples played top class badminton in the set and were tied at 21-21.
At this crucial stage of the match, Natsir and Tantowi played smartly and scored two-consecutive points to win the set by a tight margin of 23-21, in 23 minutes.
The final score of this superb 44-minute match was 21-18 and 23-21.
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