Macau Open Grand Prix Gold: Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir enter into Mixed Doubles final
Indonesia’s top couple of Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir have proved their mettle as they have secured their berth in the Mixed Doubles final after beating Thailand’s Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthongkam in the semi-final contest of the 2011 Macau
Open Grand Prix Gold, in Macau, on Saturday, December 3.
Tontowi and Liliyana, who are currently placed at number four in the Mixed Doubles world rankings, played impressive badminton as they eliminated the Thai couple in a straight set match. The Indonesian couple took just 29 minutes to stamp their victory over
their opponents and reached in the final of the tournament.
The Indonesians struggled hard in the first set and won it with a decent margin. However, in the following set, the Thai couple failed to put resistance against the mighty Tontowi and Liliyana, who emerged as the winner in the second set with a remarkable
difference.
The opening game started in a thrilling way when both couples played fast badminton. The score also progressed with the same speed form both sides and reached at 9-9 when the Indonesians remained successful in taking a lead of 11-9.
After the break, Tontowi and Liliyana started to play aggressive game at the net and remained successful in their strategy to put pressure on their opponents. They played with precision and extended their lead and took the set with a reasonable margin of
21-17 in 16 minutes.
In the following set of the game, the Thai duo tried to play aggressive badminton in the opening rallies but not enough to dominate the pace. The Indonesians occupied the driving seat and started to build a reasonable gap. They reached at 11-5 until the
one-minute break in the second set.
After the interval, Tontowi and Liliyana continued their roller-coaster progress in the match by playing fast and positive game. They spared no chance for their Thai challengers to fight back in the game. The Indonesians won the second game in a thrilling
way as they finished it with a 21-11 score on the board. The final result of this 29-minute Mixed Doubles contest was 21-17 and 21-11.
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