Russia Open Grand Prix: Joachim Persson outplays Iiya Zdanov to find a perfect start
Denmark’s experienced player Joachim Persson found a perfect start as he showed his elevated craft on court and easily outplayed his local opponent Iiya Zdanov in Men’s Singles first round of Russia Open Grand Prix 2012 at Vladivostok, Russia, on Wednesday, June 27.
The un-seeded Joachim, who is World Number 88 in Men’s Singles category at the moment, played to his best potential and defeated Zdanov in an authoritative manner.
Persson was relaxed in the opening game which helped his Russian opponent to stick around until the ending phase. However, he did not show any mercy to Zdanov in the second game and ended up the contest in straight games with a decent margin.
Lower ranked Zdanov, on the other hand, gave a tough fight to his Danish opponent but failed to prove his worth in the ending parts of both sets and lost the battle to Joachim in straight games with a respectable score.
Danish player started his campaign against the local shuttler in a relaxed manner but he did not lose his grip over the pace of rallies by employing well placed semi-smashes and impressive net shots.
Higher ranked Joachim dictated the pace and took a reasonable lead of 11-8 until the end of opening half.
After the one-minute interval, Zdanov geared up his speed at net and started to bridge the gap. He remained in control of rallies and ended the supremacy of his Danish rival by reaching at 12-12.
The score progressed equally until 18-18 when Joachim played attacking shots from all areas and won the set with a 21-18 margin on the board.
In the second game, both men again played tremendous badminton while remaining positive and focused on court. Until the mid-game break, it was Danish shuttler who took an 11-9 lead against his spirited Russian challenger.
After the break, Joachim extended the gap by playing with precision and remained successful in finishing off the second set with a 21-17 score on the board.
Joachim stamped his supremacy in this Men’s Singles clash in just 24 minutes with a convincing margin of 21-18 and 21-17.
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