Polish International 2012: Susan Egelstaff powers her way into Women’s Singles semi-final
Scotland’s Susan Egelstaff powered her way into Women’s Singles semi-final after defeating Ozge Bayrak of Turkey in the quarter-final showdown of 36th Yonex Polish International 2012 on Saturday, March 24, in Poland.
The World Number 38 Egelstaff, who is the third seed in Women’s Singles draw of Polish Open, played to her maximum potential and thrashed her Turkish opponent in straight games without spending much time in the court.
On the other hand, Bayrak could not produce better form in the first set and lost it with a huge margin. However, she showed her brilliance in the second game and stretched her rival until the deuce where she could not maintain her impressive run and lost
the set with a tight margin.
Egelstaff started to play aggressive badminton in the opening rallies of first game and remained successful in setting up a remarkable gap.
The Scottish shuttler was in complete control of rallies and managed to take a comfortable lead of 11-4 until the one-minute interval in the first set.
After the break, Bayrak changed her tactics but could not dominate the pace of rallies as she failed to match the speed of her higher ranked Scottish opponent.
In the meanwhile, Egelstaff remained calm and positive in the court and easily bagged the opening set with an incredible 21-7 score on the board.
In the second set, the un-seeded Bayrak stunned Egelstaff by playing a completely changed game as she played with aggression and also remained dominant in rallies.
On the other hand, Egelstaff could not dictate the pace and remained struggling. Until the break, she was behind her opponent on the score board by reaching at 8-11.
After the interval, Egelstaff changed her tactics and played with precision. She started to dominate rallies at net and remained successful in levelling the score at 12-12.
Both shuttlers progressed equally at this stage and reached in the ending phase without taking lead.
Bayrak was ahead at 20-19 when Egelstaff geared up her speed and scored three consecutive points to win the set with a tight margin of 22-20.
Egelstaff won this Women’s Singles quarter-final battle with a 21-7 and 22-20 score on the board.
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