Polish Open 2012: Riou Panuga defeats Olga Golovanova in an epic semi-final showdown
England’s spirited player Riou Panuga stole the limelight as she penetrated into Women’s Singles final after putting up a spectacular show of incredible play in the semi-final battle when she overpowered her higher ranked opponent Olga Golovanova of Russia in Polish Open 2012 in Poland, on Saturday, September 1.
The un-seeded Riou, who remained consistent in her impressive play throughout the championship, continued her roller-coaster run and sent the fourth seeded Olga packing in a hard-fought epic semi-final clash.
The passionate English shuttler played with confidence against her Russian opponent in the whole match and she remained successful in beating Olga in three games with a respectable margin by taking 51 minutes on court.
The higher ranked Olga, in the meanwhile, played well in the opening game but lost her control in the following both sets as her rival played aggressive and positive badminton.
Olga unexpectedly lost the match in rubber games without proving her worth in front of local crowd.
The opening set was absolutely favourable for the Russian shuttler who played with impressive control in her shots and remained in complete control without facing any considerable resistance from her lower ranked English opponent.
On the other hand, Riou tried to play fast badminton but she lost her control and remained trailing until the mid-game break.
After the interval, the English player could not put up good show as she committed many un-forced errors and ultimately lost the set with a huge 12-21 score on the board.
In the second set, Riou played tremendous badminton as she lifted up her level of play and started to dominate the pace of rallies. She was ahead of her Russian rival until the mid-game interval.
After the break, Riou continued playing positive game without losing her focus and eventually made the score levelled by winning the second set with a wonderful margin of 21-16.
In the deciding game, both shuttlers played controlled and positive badminton and remained neck-to-neck in the first half.
However, it was Riou who played dominating badminton after the mid-game interval and she remained successful in snatching the second set with a reasonable 21-17 score on the board.
The in-form Riou won this Women’s Singles semi-final clash in three games with a thrilling margin of 12-21, 21-16 and 21-17.
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