Misaki Matsutomo, Ayaka Takahashi claim Women’s Doubles crown in US Open GP Gold 2012
Japan’s talented female shuttlers Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi proved themselves invincible and finished Yonex OCBC US Open GPG as Women’s Doubles Champion on July 7, 2012.
World Number 20 duo trounced Valeri Sorokina-Nina Vislova of Russia in just two games by registering concluding figure of 21-19 and 21-17.
This final encounter was staged at Orange County Badminton Club (OCBC) in Los Angeles and both teams kept the audience intact for 44 minutes in this battle for the throne.
Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi, who were also top seeded in this tournament, outclassed their rivals convincingly while the opposing team had to surrender despite putting up a great fight.
The opening segment set the overall tempo of this show as both contenders put all in their possession to gain an early advantage.
Neither team could establish a permanent lead as they kept chasing each other all the way to the final moments.
In first half of the set, the Russians took off in perfect manner and captured four consecutive points.
World Number 21 pair Valeri-Nina built some pressure by placing 4-0 margin and then controlled the overall pace of the game in the next couple of rallies.
They raised their total to 7-2 and when the opposing team tried to catch them, they made the difference by clinching four valuable points in a row. This campaign took them to a dominating position of 11-5 before the interval.
However, the story was entirely different in later part of the game as the Japanese campaigners launched a quick attack and caught their challengers at 16-16 score position.
Misaki and Ayaka struck hard in the final stage and bagged the opening segment with a decisive figure of 21-19.
They proved their class also in the following game and dictated the competitors from very first stroke to the last one.
The second set, which turned decider later, started with both finalists standing at the same level until 6-6 but then Misaki and Ayaka left their opponents far behind with a mountainous total of 11.
After one-minute break, they played flawless badminton and stole the lime-light with notable lead in concluding margin of 21-17.
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