Sayaka Sato crushes Darina Zhurba in Women’s Singles first round of the 2011 Russian Open Grand Prix
Japan’s Sayaka Sato toppled Russia’s Darina Zhurba in the Women’s Singles first round of the 2011 Russian Open Grand Prix, at Vladivostok, Russia, on Wednesday, June 29, 2011.
World Number 19 and top seed in the event, Sayaka, proved that she belongs to the top-class of the game as she thrashed the local shuttler in a straight-set fight, which took only 18 minutes.
In the opening game, the Japanese started her impressive run in the match by playing superb badminton. She was scoring points without facing any trouble at all from her local opponent, who was clearly lacking speed and accuracy.
Darina made many unforced errors in the opening game because the speed of her rival was uncontrollable for her. She tried her best to maintain a good speed but failed against the experienced Sayaka, who reached at 11-2, in the opening part of the first set.
After the break, the top seed continued his comfortable run in the match without any interruption from the Russian, who gave up the opening set as the lead of the Japanese was beyond her reach. Sayaka finished the opening match by a destructive margin of
21-4, in just 7 minutes.
Darina worked well in the opening half of the second game, where she geared up her speed to return the perfectly placed strokes of her challenger. The elevated play of the Russian pushed Sayaka on the back foot for a while, as the Japanese became slow and
relaxed in the second game.
Sayaka started to increase her speed by playing attacking clears, coupled with powerful smashes. Until the interval, the Japanese was just ahead of the local player by reaching at 11-9.
After the 60-second break, Sayaka accelerated the speed of the rallies by moving fast in all areas of the court. She pushed her opponent in all corners and won the second game by a good margin of 21-13, in just 11 minutes. The concluding result of this one-sided
18-minute battle was 21-4 and 21-13.
Tags: