Marcus Ellis, Gabrielle White rule in Mixed Doubles event of 2012 Yonex Belgian International
England’s Marcus Ellis and Gabrielle White raised their country’s flag in the Yonex Belgian International by fetching the Mixed Doubles trophy on Sunday, September 16, 2012.
They unseated their compatriot duo Chris Langridge-Heather Olver to claim top spot on the victory stand of this International Challenge.
This grand finale remained in full swing for 62 minutes and both contenders kept the audience intact at the local badminton arena of Leuven, Belgium.
Initially, Chris-Heather raised their chances of success by clinching the first match point with 21-9 score but then the opposing team snatched the last two points with 21-10 and 21-17 margin.
The battle heated up when Chris and Heather launched a brisk attack and cornered their higher ranked rivals in the opening game.
They made a swift progress with five consecutive points and got into commanding position by registering a 6-1 total.
Next couple of rallies saw them making few mistakes but still they managed to end the first half of the set with a decent figure of 11-5.
This initial lead helped them to keep the opposing team under their influence in later part of the game.
The twosome of Marcus and Gabrielle made every effort to come out of this deficit but they had to give up this futile chase after reading 9-21 score on the board.
However, they did not remain at lower end permanently and managed to rise from the dust in very next game.
This time the sixth seeded pair of this tournament proved their worth with a tremendous performance.
Both Mixed Doubles partners changed their tactics and played with an authoritative approach to keep the contest alive.
Marcus and Gabrielle established their grip with an unstoppable series of well placed strokes which took them to a dominating 7-2 position.
They doubled the impact with a couple of valuable points in third quarter of the set and avoided a straight-set defeat with 21-10 margin.
It was not an easy ride for them in the decider as their competitors challenged them in all areas of the game and made this tie a memorable contest.
Both pairs remained toe-to-toe until 16-16 but then Marcus and Gabrielle secured the honour with a favourable result of 21-17.
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