Qualifier Gu Juan turns into major contender in the All England Open Premier Super Series 2011
Singapore’s Gu Juan, a qualifier in the event has turned into a main candidate for lifting the title, as she has booked her place in the quarter-final stage in the All England Open Premier Super Series 2011.
Juan delivered an impressive performance in the previous matches, where she defeated Tsz Ka Chan of Hong Kong in the first round and stunned the audience by beating Eighth seed, Youn Joo Bae of Korea in a round-of-16 match.
Juan won all of her qualifying round matches quite easily and entered in the main round of the event. Her first round match was against Tsz Chan. Both ladies put up a good show in front of a packed indoor arena in Birmingham, England.
Right from the start of the opening set of the match, Tsz Chan played an incredible game and took a quick lead of 7-1 in a few minutes and stretched the advantage to11-4, until the one-minute break. After the break, the Hong Kong’s player remained on the
winning track and sprinted towards victory. She grabbed the first set by a huge margin of 21-8.
The second game was a complete opposite of the first one, where the Singaporean occupied the driving seat and controlled the pace of the rallies. She levelled the match by winning the second game, with a remarkable difference of 21-10. The third and final
set of the first-round match was a thrilling battle, as both ladies were progressing with the same pace. The score reached at 16-16, where Juan accelerated the pace and quality of her game and won the final set by a 21-18 margin.
In the round-of-16, Juan was facing Korean, Youn Bae, who was the Number Eight seed in the event. The Singaporean got the attention of the crowd by playing a top quality game against the experienced Korean. In the first game, Juan was the leader as she spared
no chance for Youn Bae to prove her skills and grabbed the opening game by a notable difference of 21-16.
The Korean bounced back and levelled the match by winning the second game. She was leading the game by 11-5 at the interval. After the break, the Korean remained on track and finished the set by a big difference of 21-12.
In the third game, both shuttlers remained tied at 10-10, where Juan executed a killing smash on the side-line of the court and made it 11-10, at the one-minute rest. She continued her wonderful play even after the interval and finished the set with a good
margin of 21-15. The victory against the Korean pushed the Singaporean in the quarter-final of the event, where she will play against Petya Nedelcheva of Bulgaria, who defeated Ji Hyun Sung of Korea in the previous round.
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