Saina Nehwal, Tzu Ying Tai penetrate into second round of All England Open Badminton Championship
India’s Saina Nehwal and Chinese Taipei’s Tzu Ying Tai have booked their place in the second round of the All England Open Badminton Championship 2011, at the National indoor arena in Birmingham, England, on March 9.
Saina defeated Seung Hee Bae of Korea in a straight-set match, whereas, Tzu Ying crushed Linda Zechiri of Bulgaria in straight games. Both winners will be playing against each other in the second round of the event.
The Indian started her journey in the event against Seung Hee. Saina, who is number five seed in the event, played quite well against the Korean. The start of the match was quite thrilling as both ladies played quality badminton and remained toe-to-toe until
7-7, where the Indian scored four consecutive points and established a good lead of 11-7.
After the one-minute break, Saina remained focused in the game and stretched her lead to 16-10. The Korean could not control the shuttle and made many mistakes to lose the opening set by a big difference of 13-21, in just 16 minutes.
In the second game of the match, Seung Hee tried to find momentum by putting more speed in the game but again lost control. Saina remained on the driving seat by playing her usual clever game at the net. She was perfect in her high clears and down the line
smashes that spared no chance for the Korean to fight back in the game. The Indian spent 18 minutes to finish the second set by a notable margin of 21-16. The final score of the 34-minute match was 21-13 and 21-16.
In another match of Women’s singles, Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei thrashed Bulgarian shuttler, Linda, in straight sets by consuming only 26 minutes in the court. Ying started the opening set with an attacking style and earned a good lead of 11-6 in the first-half
of the opening set.
After the interval, the Bulgarian played well and reduced the lead to 15-17. Ying controlled the game again by executing parallel clears and spinning net strokes that earned her the opportunity to hit powerful smashes on the side lines of the court. Tzu
Ying won the first set by a decent margin of 21-17, in just 14 minutes.
The second set of the first round battle was completely one sided, as Taipei’s shuttler never spared any opportunity for the Bulgarian to dominate the game. Ying was ahead at 11-6 until the interval and continued her winning run after the break as well.
She finished the second set with a huge difference of 21-13, by spending just 12 minutes in the court. The final score of the 26-minute match was 21-17 and 21-13.
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