Macau Open Grand Prix: Muhammad Hafiz Hashim digs deep to beat Dong Keun Lee in first round battle
Malaysia’s experienced player Muhammad Hafiz Hashim had to dig deep to defeat Korea’s Dong Keun Lee in the Men’s Singles first round of the 2011 Macau Open Grand Prix, in Macau, on Tuesday, November 29.
Hafiz Hashim, who is World Number 40 in the Men’s Singles world standings, used his extensive experience to beat his young opponent in a thrilling match. The Malaysian had to work hard to get rid of the Korean challenger and emerged as the winner in three
games by taking 52 minutes in the court.
The Malaysian veteran started the match in a controlled way as he left no space for the Korean and won the game easily. However, it was a different story in the second set when Dong Keun played to his maximum potential and levelled the score by winning the
second game. Hafiz Hashim employed his experience to take in the final game in a one-sided fashion.
Right from the start of the first set, the Malaysian played with wonderful precision as he executed his fast drops and semi-smashes followed by spinning net strokes. The wonderful variations of the Malaysia disturbed the flow of the Korean and he failed
to play his attacking game. Hafiz Hashim took no time in taking the opening game with a terrific margin of 21-13.
In the following game, it was the Korean who set up an incredible lead by reaching at 9-4. However, the Malaysian levelled the score at 9-9. Until the break, the Korean was just ahead of his experienced opponent at 11-10.
After the break, both shuttlers remained neck-to-neck until 15-15, when Dong Keun executed some fascinating strokes at the net and took a reasonable lead. Hafiz Hashim failed to level the score at this stage and lost the game with a margin of 18-21.
In the decider, the score was 3-3 when the Malaysian became quicker in taking the bird early from the tape of the net and moved his opponent in all corners of the court. He remained focused in this game and found no trouble this time from his opponent and
finished the game with a huge difference of 21-10. The concluding result of this 52-minute battle was 21-13, 18-21 and 21-10.
Tags: