Singapore Open 2012: A semi-final ticket for Hiroyuki Endo, Kenichi Hayakawa in Men’s Doubles event
Japan’s spirited team Hiroyuki Endo-Kenichi Hayakawa claimed a semi-final spot in Li Ning Singapore Open after beating Men’s Doubles experts Christian John Skovgaard and Mads Pieler Kolding on June 22, 2012.
This hard fought quarter-final match remained in full swing for 54 minutes before ending with final result of 20-22, 21-12 and 21-9.
There was lot of drama in this tussle as the Danish couple bagged first match point in splendid manner but could not capitalise this initial advantage in final two sets.
Meanwhile, the Japanese pair came back from a horrendous start and blew away their rivals with a gutsy performance.
In first set of the match, both teams made the crowd gasp with their breath-taking performance. They did not allow each other to establish a comfortable lead until game point situation.
The twosome of Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa remained one or two step ahead in opening part of game and managed to place a tight margin of 11-10 at half time.
However, they blundered in third quarter of set and allowed their competitors to be at top with 14-12.
Both teams were hanging by a thread to stay alive at 20-20 but Christian John and Mads Pieler managed to tip the scale in their favour with 22-20 score on the board.
However, they could not carry that rhythm in following segment and lost second set in practice match style.
This time the Japanese campaigners launched brisk attack and confined their opponents in rear court.
They set the ball rolling with a respectable total of 11-7 before break and then magnified the impact by snatching five continuous points immediately after the interval.
The Danes could not lift burden of this deficit and knelt down after reading decisive figure of 12-21.
Third and final set saw them losing in even more shameful manner as they hardly put any resistance throughout the decider.
Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa kept dictating the opponents from very first shot to last one.
They did not show mercy and locked the honour with a huge difference in 21-9 margin. Now their next challenge is to surpass Indonesian team Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan for a title match spot.
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