Sheng Shao Chieh ousts Nozomi Okuhara in semi-final of the 2011 Canada Open Grand Prix
Chinese Taipei’s Sheng Shao Chieh dug deep into her reserves to beat Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara in the Women’s Singles semi-final of the 2011 Canada Open Grand Prix, in Richmond DC, Canada, on Saturday, July 23.
Sheng Shao, who is currently World Number Eight and the top seed in the Women’s Singles draw of the Canada Open, employed all of her skills to get rid of the un-seeded Okuhara, who was playing at her best. The top seed emerged as the winner at the end of
the three-set match, after working hard for 43 minutes in the court.
The start of this semi-final battle was shocking for the Taipei shuttler, as the Japanese was playing fascinating badminton by committing no error in the first-half. Okuhara reached at 11-7 in the opening part of the set against a shaky Sheng Shao, who was
struggling to find her flow.
After the break, the Japanese maintained the gap throughout the whole set by keeping the pace of the game at the highest level. Her perfectly placed strokes kept Sheng Shao struggling to return the bird in the right areas. Due to the negative play, the top
seed lost the first game with a big margin of 14-21, in 18 minutes.
However, Sheng Shao bounced back in the second game with an extremely attacking approach as she progressed smoothly without facing any resistance at all from her challenger. Okuhara failed to maintain her better play in this set against the firing Sheng
Shao, who was playing far better badminton. The top seed clinched the second game in just 11 minutes with a wonderful margin of 21-9.
The final game was also identical to the second set as the top seed continued her positive run. She showed no sign of slowing down in this game and remained dominant in most of the rallies. The power-play of Sheng Shao earned her third game with a difference
of 21-10, in just 14 minutes. The final score of this semi-final contest was 14-21, 21-9 and 21-10.
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