Malaysia Open Super Series: Kenichi Tago slaughters Simon Santoso in Men’s Singles quarter-final
Japan’s Kenichi Tago stretches his winning streak in the Men’s Singles main round as he has slaughtered Indonesia’s Simon Santoso in quarter-final showdown of the 2012 Malaysia Open Super Series on Friday, January 13, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The World Number 12 Tago has been playing impressive badminton in all matches at Malaysia Open and has secured his berth in semi-final of the event.
In the quarter-final fight, he hammered his higher ranked rival Santoso in straight games by taking just 35 minutes in the court. The World Number Eight Santoso failed to stop the roller-coaster run of Tago and lost the match without putting up strong resistance.
In the opening game, Santoso played fast badminton and also controlled the bird with his impressive skills. He was leading the set with a 6-4 margin when Tago found his flow and started to dominate the pace.
The Japanese scored five consecutive points to reach at 9-6. Until the 60-second break, the lower ranked Tago was leading with a decent margin of 11-8.
After the break, Santoso played flawless badminton while remaining aggressive and levelled the score at 13-13. However, Tago again took over the control and pushed his rival on the back foot. His smashes started to land in gaps and he managed to win the first set with a decent 21-15 score on the board.
In the second game, Tago surprised local fans with his aggressive approach as he did not let his challenger to play his normal game. He executed perfect smashes and accurate drives and kept Santoso moving around in all areas of the court.
The Indonesian shuttler remained struggling and failed to find a good flow. He also committed many unforced mistakes by hitting the bird out of court. Until the one-minute interval in the opening game Tago was in superb lead of 11-6.
After the break, Japanese shuttler continued his killing play and rushed to end the second game with an impressive margin of 21-9. This Men’s Singles battle ended in 35 minute with a score of 21-15 and 21-9.
In the semi-final battle, Tago will take on China’s Chen Jin who defeated Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen in the other quarter-final match.
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