Malaysia Open Super Series: Xu Chen – Ma Jin land a podium berth by reaching in Mixed Doubles final
China’s second seeds, Xu Chen and Ma Jin, land a podium berth as they have reached in the Mixed Doubles final after thrashing Indonesia’s Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir in semi-final battle of 2012 Malaysia Open Super Series in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
on Saturday, January 14.
Xu and Ma, who are currently World Number Two in Mixed Doubles world standings, proved their elevated skills and got rid of Tontowi and Liliyana who are positioned at number four in the world. The Chinese couple ended the fight in two games without having
any considerable trouble.
On the other hand, Tontowi and Liliyana, who have been struggling to win a major tournament for the last six months, again failed to live up to expectations as they crashed out in the semi-final of the championship.
Both couples entertained the huge local crowd by showing their elite skills and remained close in the first half of opening game.
The Indonesians played fast game at net but could not break the defence of their rivals. Until the break, Chinese shuttlers were slightly ahead of their Indonesian challengers at 11-10.
After the one-minute interval, Xu and Ma played terrific badminton and remained dominant all the way until the concluding phase of the game.
Tontowi and Liliyana tried to place their shots in right areas but failed to create gaps. Xu and Ma bagged the first game with a decent score of 21-17.
In the following game, Tontowi and Liliyana were the first to set up a wonderful lead of 9-5. They played with aggression from the rear court area and also did not miss any chance to kill the bird at net.
However, Chinese shuttlers were composed at this stage and they levelled the score by at 10-10 by playing an attacking game.
Xu and Ma continued their elevated play in second half of the game and remained in complete control. They did not spare any chance for Indonesian couple to fight back in the game and won the set with a comfortable margin of 21-14.
The end result of this 31-minute semi-final showdown was 21-17 and 21-14.
In the title match, Xu and Ma will take on their higher ranked compatriots, Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei, who crushed Malaysia’s Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying in the second semi-final encounter.
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