OCBC US Open GP Gold: Kaori Imabeppu trounces Shih Han Hung in Women’s Singles round-of-16
Japan’s emerging female shuttler Kaori Imabeppu reached into Women’s Singles quarter-final after displaying a tremendous performance against Chinese Taipei’s Shih Han Hung in round-of-16 match at Yonex OCBC US Open GP Gold 2012 on Wednesday, July 4, in USA.
The un-seeded Imabeppu was in tremendous form on court as she played impressive badminton against her Taipei rival and won the battle in straight games in a decent fashion.
Imabeppu showed her class in opening set and wrapped it up easily with a huge margin. However, she had to utilise all of her reserves to overpower her talented opponent with a tight margin and she won the battle in two sets in 39 minutes.
The Taipei shuttler could not capitalise her impressive skills in opening game but gave a strong fight in the second game and troubled her rival throughout the set. However, she failed to earn points at the ending stage and lost the battle to Imabeppu with
a respectable difference on the board.
The opening points of first game were thrilling for the crowd when both ladies put up staggering show of fast and positive badminton and reached at 6-6.
At this stage, Imabeppu changed her tactics and executed flat shots to create pressure. She remained successful in getting a strong position in first game by reaching at 11-7 until the interval.
After the break, the Japanese shuttler became quick at net and also executed powerful smashes in right areas. She was in full swing throughout the set and took it with a stunning 21-12 score on the board.
In the second game, the Taipei lady also showed up her tremendous class as she played fast and aggressive badminton and remained closely behind her Japanese opponent at 9-11 until the one-minute interval.
After the mid-game break, Imabeppu managed a reasonable lead but failed to maintain it as Shih Han played positive game and levelled the score at 19-19.
However, Imabeppu executed powerful smashes by taking the bird early and took the set with a 21-19 score on the board.
The in-form Japanese player emerged as the winner in this Women’s Singles battle with a margin of 21-12 and 21-19.
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