Sho Sasaki trounces Wong Choong Hann in the title match of the Australian Open Grand Prix Gold 2011
Japan’s Sho Sasaki stopped the winning run of Malaysia’s Wong Choong Hann by beating him in the men’s singles title match of the Australian Open Grand Prix Gold 2011, on April 11. The match was being held in Melbourne, Australia.
The sixth seed, Sasaki had to work hard for 58 minutes to chuck out the Malaysian, who defeated the ninth seed Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia in the semi-final of the event. For the Japanese, this is the first men’s singles title of the year.
Choong Hann enjoyed a great run throughout the event and showed no sign of fatigue in any of his previous matches. He started the first set with incredible pace and gained a comfortable lead of 11-6 in the first part of the set. Hann's movement was very
smooth in all corners of the court and he spared no room for the opponent to find gaps.
Sasaki tried to play all of his sharp points including, semi-smashes, cross court net and strong pushes, but Choong Hann’s anticipation was perfect every time he would try his shots. The Malaysian continued his impressive performance in the second part of
the set as well and finished it up by a one-sided margin of 21-11, in just 17 minutes.
In the second game, Sasaki made a tremendous come-back by playing a completely different game this time. He heavily relied on defence by prolonging the rallies to make the opponent work hard for every single point. His tactics seemed to worked as he took
an 11-7 lead till the interval. After the break, Sasaki remained on track and won the second set 21-12.
The final set of the match was closer as compared to the initial two games. The score remained tight till 15-15 where the Japanese geared up his speed by becoming aggressive at the net. Choong Hann's movement lagged a bit in the final stages of the match
and that provided an opportunity for Sasaki to finish the set with a narrow margin of 21-19, in 23 minutes. The ending score of this 58-minute match was 21-11, 12-21 and 21-19.
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