Quarter-final round exit for Vladimir Ivanov, Ivan Sozonov in Men’s Doubles event - US Open Update
World Number 19 pair Vladimir Ivanov-Ivan Sozonov could not prove their class in the Men’s Doubles quarter-finals of Yonex OCBC US Open GPG and surrendered against Juergen Koch-Peter Zauner on July 5, 2012.
The Russian duo resisted for 50 minutes but could not avoid a 2-1 defeat with concluding figures of 21-16, 14-21 and19-21.
On the other hand, the Austrian team performed beyond expectations and cast out their superior rivals in the final two sets.
Vladimir and Ivan, who were seeded second in this tournament, opened their marathon in perfect fashion as they built pressure by clinching very first match point.
Though, they were struggling in the beginning of the first set but a couple of fruitful rallies tipped the scale in their favour.
In first half, Juergen and Peter placed a decent total of 4-1 in no time and enjoyed the upper hand until 8-5.
However, the opposing team put their expedition to a halt by levelling the score just before the interval.
The Russian campaigners employed unique tactics and reached a dominating position of 14-11. They did not throw any counter-attack opportunity and blew away their competitors with a gutsy knock of 21-16.
Next game changed the match score position as twosome of Vladimir-Ivan could not turn this 1-0 lead into a straight-set triumph.
Juergen and Peter were bit slow in the start but they gained the right momentum with six consecutive points after 1-4 margin.
They maintained this rhythm in next couple of rallies and entered a respectable total of 11-7 before the announcement of a break.
After one-minute interval, the lower ranked but talented Austrians put their challengers under great pressure with swift progress to 16-11.
This five-point deficit proved a final blow to Vladimir-Ivan who knelt down after reading 14-21 score on the board.
Both contenders played impeccable badminton in the decider to avoid a woeful exit. Neither of them could gain a comfortable lead and pushed each other until game point situation.
Vladimir and Ivan made every effort to surpass their opponents after 17-17 but they could not keep Juergen-Peter away from 21-19 win.
The victorious duo will now lock horns with Yoshiteru Hirobe-Kenta Kazuno in the semi-final round.
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