Malaysia Open Super Series: Simon Santoso overwhelms Ajay Jayaram in Men’s Singles opening round
Indonesia’s in-form player, Simon Santoso, advances into Men’s Singles second round after beating India’s Ajay Jayaram in the opening round of the 2012 Malaysia Open Super Series on Wednesday, January 11, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Santoso has been playing remarkable badminton for the last one year and has got an elevated world ranking as he has reached at number seven in the Men’s Singles world standings.
However, in his opening match of Malaysia Open, Santoso had to work really hard to chuck out Jayaram in a mouth-watering rubber-set contest. The Indian shuttler put up good show of quality badminton but could not finish it well and lost the match with a
tight margin.
In the opening game, Jayaram stunned the local crowd with his highly impressive play as he did not miss any chance to bury the bird into his opponent’s court. He remained in superb control of rallies and remained far ahead of his higher ranked opponent until
the 60-second interval.
After the break, the Indian remained on track as Santoso was completely unable to take the bird early. The Indonesian committed numerous mistakes at the concluding phase of the first game and eventually lost it with a stunning 9-21 score on the board.
In the second game of this battle, both men played fast badminton and kept the pace of rallies at the highest level. The score remained close until the end of first half because both players were positive and focused in the game.
After the interval, Santoso accelerated his speed to control the pace of rallies and remained successful in taking a reasonable lead. The positive play of Indonesian shuttler helped him to win the second game with a decent difference of 21-18.
In the final set, the contest remained close in first half of the game as both men entertained local fans with their wonderful skills. However, Santoso took over the control of game in the second half of deciding set and bagged it with a good score of 21-16.
Santoso emerged as the winner of this 56-minute contest with a 9-21, 21-18 and 21-16 score on the board.
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