Sho Sasaki beats Boonsak Ponsana to storm into Men’s Singles semi-final of the 2011 US Open GP Gold
Japan’s top shuttler, Sho Sasaki stormed into the Men’s Singles semi-final after beating Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana in the quarter-final of the 2011 US Open GP Gold, at Orange, California, on Thursday, July 14.
Sasaki, the seventh seed in the Men’s Singles draw of the event, played stunning badminton against the higher ranked Ponsana, who was the fourth seed in this tournament. The Japanese displayed his skills of the highest level against the World Number Ten,
Ponsana and finished-off the quarter-final battle in straight-sets in just 36 minutes.
On paper, Ponsana was the favourite for this quarter-final contest, but he failed to live up to expectations as Sasaki played better in all aspects of the game. Both shuttlers opened the game in a thrilling manner, as both were playing to their maximum speed
in the initial points.
However, World Number 15, Sasaki, started to create a gap by playing fast and positive badminton as he was dominating the game at the net. His perfectly placed spinning net shots earned him an edge over his opponent, who was making mistakes at the net. The
Japanese got a comfortable position in the opening game by taking a five-point lead at 11-5.
After the interval, Sasaki continued sailing smoothly as Ponsana failed to stop the impressive run of his rival in the entire opening game. Sasaki entertained the huge crowd by playing superb strokes and clinched the set in just 16 minutes, with a dramatic
score of 21-10.
In the second game of this Men’s Singles fight, Ponsana worked well in the starting points by pacing up his strokes and remained close to his challenger until the interval, where he was at 10-11. The Japanese controlled pace of the rallies in the second-half
and was successful in building up a good lead.
Sasaki made no mistake in the concluding phase of the second game and won it with a margin of 21-15, in 20 minutes. The ending result of this straight-set quarter-final battle was 21-10 and 21-15.
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