Petya Nedelcheva and Eriko Hirose through to semi-finals in the All England Premier Super Series
Bulgaria’s Petya Nedelcheva and Eriko Hirose of Japan have entered into the semi-final stage after winning their quarter-final matches in the Women’s Singles category, in the All England Open Premier Super Series 2011, at Birmingham, England, on March 11.
The Bulgarian crushed Juan Gu of Singapore in the quarter-final, whereas, the Japanese defeated the fifth seed Saina Nehwal of India. Eriko will be up against Petya in the semi-final showdown of the event.
Petya played a wonderful game against the Singaporean, who thrashed the number eight seed, Youn Joo Bae of Korea, in the round-of-16. The Bulgarian started the game in dominating fashion, as she dictated the pace of the rallies and took a good lead of 11-7.
After the interval, Petya remained focused and maintained her speed in the entire set and finished it with a satisfying margin of 21-16, in just 18 minutes.
The level of the game improved in the second set, as both ladies progressed closely. Until the interval, the Bulgarian was ahead at 11-10. She increased her speed to stretch the lead after the interval, but Juan was more alert this time and matched the speed
of her opponent to level at 18-18.
At this stage of the second game, Petya played wonderful spinning net strokes, followed by powerful smashes on the side-lines of the court. The aggressive style helped her to win the second set with a slight margin of 21-19, in 22 minutes. The concluding
score of this 40-minute match was 21-16 and 21-19.
In another quarter-final match, Eriko of Japan delivered a stunning performance by beating the fifth seed Saina, who defeated Tzu Ying Tai of Chinese Taipei, in the previous round. The Japanese was incredible in the opening set as she established a wonderful
lead of 11-5, until the break. After the interval, Eriko continued her superb play by sparing no room for the Indian to fight back in the set and won it with a huge difference of 21-11, by spending just 16 minutes in the court.
In the second game, Saina worked very hard to match the pace of the aggressive Japanese. The score progressed with equal pace from both sides until 9-9, where Eriko scored two consecutive points to get a decent lead until the one-minute-break.
The Indian employed every skill she had in her possession but failed to stop the remarkable run of her opponent. The score reached at the critical stage of 20-20, where the Japanese controlled the rallies and pushed the Indian in all corners of the court
and eventually grabbed the remaining two points to make it a 22-20 win, in 21 minutes. The ending score of this 37-minute quarter-final battle was 21-11 and 22-20.
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