Lu Lan defeats Wang Shixian in Women’s Singles pre-quarterfinal of the Badminton Asia Championships
China’s Lu Lan delivered a stunning performance by beating the compatriot and top seed, Wang Shixian, in the Women’s Singles pre-quarterfinal of the Badminton Asia Championships 2011, in Sichuan, China, today on April 21.
The un-seeded, Lan, took 60 minutes and three sets to beat Shixian, who was the favourite for the title of Women’s Singles. In the quarter-final, Lan will face either the team-mate Xuerui Li or Lydia Li Ya Cheah of Malaysia.
The World Number one, Shixian, started the first round in her usual way and remained successful in maintaining a good lead of 9-3. Lan tried hard to meet the speed of the opponent but failed as she lost her control over the shuttle c**k and made many errors.
At the 60-second interval, Shixian was leading the game with a 6-point lead of 11-5.
Getting back into the court after the interval, the top seed showed no mercy to her team-mate and extended her lead by reaching 17-8. Lan remained struggling in picking the bird early and eventually lost the first set in just 29 minutes with a one sided
margin of 10-21.
Shixian started the second game in the similar way but her opponent was quicker this time. Lan found her momentum and managed to take a slight lead of 11-9 at the end of the opening half of the set. After the one-minute rest, Shixian tried to level the score
but Lan was playing a perfect game without sparing any chance for the top seed to dominate the rallies. The un-seeded Chinese player levelled the match by winning the second set with a 21-18 margin in 24 minutes.
In the third and deciding set, Lan pushed the top seed on the back foot by playing an attacking game and demonstrated that she also belongs to the same class of players. Shixian tried to gear up her speed to stop the aggressive run of the opponent but lost
her control over the rallies. Lan remained far ahead of Shixian in the entire final set and won it with a wonderful difference of 21-11. The concluding score of this 60-minute three-set battle was, 10-21, 21-18 and 21-11.
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