Liu Xin narrowly beats Juan Gu in Women’s Singles round-of-16 at Swiss Open GP Gold 2012
China’s impressive player Liu Xin had to work hard to reach into Women’s Singles quarter-final after beating Singapore’s Juan Gu in the round-of-16 at Swiss Open GP Gold 2012 at Basel, Switzerland, on Thursday, March 15.
Xin, who is currently World Number 12 and sixth seed in Women’s Singles draw of Swiss Open, had to dig deep into her reserves to chuck out Juan who has been positioned at number 17 in the world rankings.
The higher ranked Chinese played well in the opening game but lost the second one. However, she found her flow at the ending points of final set and managed to win the contest with a tight margin on the score board.
On the other hand, Juan played remarkable badminton in the whole battle but lost her focus at the concluding stage in the deciding set and lost the fight with a respectable score.
In the first game, Xin did not take much time in occupying the driving seat and started to dictate her lower ranked opponent in all areas of the court.
The Chinese was in full control and remained successful in taking a wonderful lead of 11-5 until the one-minute interval.
After the break, Xin continued dictating the pace of rallies and did not spare any chance for her opponent to level the score. She ended the first set with a tremendous difference of 21-14.
In the second game, Xin again managed to control the game by playing aggressive badminton and reached at 11-6 until the break.
However, Juan geared up her speed in the second half and remained successful in catching her higher ranked opponent at 15-15.
Xin tried to remain in commanding position at this stage but failed to break the rhythm of her challenger and lost the set with a decent score of 18-21.
In the deciding game, both ladies played tremendous badminton from the opening points and remained close until the end of first half.
After the break, they continued playing flawless badminton until 17-17 when Xin showed her brilliance and played aggressive game.
The Chinese managed to score the ending points and bagged the set with a reasonable 21-18 score on the board.
Xin managed to win this rubber-set battle with a thrilling margin of 21-14, 18-21 and 21-18.
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