Russia’s Vladimir Malkov defeats Pavel Florian in the first round of Croatian International 2011
Russia’s Vladimir Malkov defeated Pavel Florian of Czech Republic in the men’s singles first round of the Croatian International 2011, in Croatia on Friday, April 1. The number six seed Russian won the match in straight sets after a good fight of 30 minutes.
In the second round, Vladimir will meet either Lukas Schmidt of Germany or Rosario Maddaloni of Italy.
Right from the start of the opening set, Vladimir showed no mercy to Florian and quickly reached 8-3. He was playing quite comfortably as the opponent was not seemed a little rusty. Florian tried hard to narrow the gap but the Russian spared no chance for
him in the first half of the set and established a wonderful lead of 11-4.
Things started to change gradually after the interval when Florian geared up his speed and became very aggressive in all of his strokes. He bridged the gap by playing top class badminton and levelled the score by reaching 15-15. At this crucial stage of
the game, Vladimir played a better game by keeping the bird low from the net, a technique that earned him six points in a row. He won the opening set by a reasonable margin of 21-15 in only 14 minutes.
Vladimir quickly took a 4-point lead in the start of the second set where he was leading by a 5-1 margin. Florian narrowed the difference by matching the speed of the Russian and reached 6-8. The game progressed closely in the opening part of the second
set as both shuttlers remained toe-to-toe till the interval. However, from that point Vladimir got slightly ahead of the opponent at 11-8.
Florian again worked well after the one-minute interval and levelled the score at 16-16. It was one of the best matches of the day in the men’s singles category as both players entertained the crowd with a superb match. Vladimir again played an attacking
game in this important stage and scored five consecutive points to win the set by a 21-16 difference, in 16 minutes. The two-set match ended with the scoreline of 21-15 and 21-16.
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