Malaysia Open Super Series: Lee Chong Wei to meet Taufik Hidayat in Men’s Singles quarter-final
Malaysia’s top seed Lee Chong Wei is set to meet Indonesia’s Taufik Hidayat in the Men’s Singles semi-final of the 2012 Malaysia Open Super Series.
In the round-of-16, Chong Wei won against Japan’s Kazushi Yamada in straight games, whereas, Taufik crushed Vietnam’s Nguyen Tien Minh in remarkable fashion, on Thursday, January 12, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
In the pre-quarter-final contest, World Number One Chong Wei played superb badminton against Kazushi and ended the match in straight games.
He started the opening set in a stunning way as he showed no respect to his Japanese opponent and won it without any problem by a one-sided score of 21-8.
In the following game, Chong Wei became slow which helped his Japanese rival to set up a remarkable lead until the break. The Malaysian was trailing far behind at 4-11 because of his unexpected errors.
However, he recovered the gap by accelerating his speed and controlled the pace of game. He remained on track and stopped the progress of Kazushi in the concluding phase of second game.
The top seed won the second set with a decent score of 21-18. The overall result of this two-set match was 21-8 and 21-18.
Chong Wei said, “I was making simple mistakes in the second game and that allowed the Japanese to lead 11-4. Fortunately, I stepped up a gear to win the match.”
The Malaysian also added that he is not too much worried about his quarter-final fight against Taufik.
In the other round-of-16 contest, Taufik thrashed the higher ranked Tien Minh in straight games. The Indonesian started the opening game with an aggressive approach as won the set by a remarkable 21-11 score.
In the second set of this contest, Taufik did not let his rival to fight back in the match by playing at his best. He ended the second game with a convincing margin of 21-14. The final result of this one-sided battle was 21-11 and 21-14.
Taufik is also confident to put up good show against Chong Wei in quarter-final contest as he wants to earn precious ranking points for Olympic Games.
He said, “This may be Chong Wei’s era now. He has home advantage and will have a lot of supporters but I am here to win it. We will see.”
Badminton fans are looking forward for a crunchy quarter-final battle between the two experienced shuttlers at the Putra Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Tags: