Smooth start for China’s Wang Shixian in the All England Open Badminton Championship 2011
China’s Wang Shixian started her winning run in the All England Open Badminton Championship 2011, by beating Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand, in the first round, today at Birmingham, England. The world number one and top seed of the event faced no resistance
from the Thai opponent and finished the match in straight sets by spending only 26 minutes in the court.
Shixian started the first game with her usual style and remained composed to get familiar with the conditions of the court. The score progressed tightly in the opening stages. The Thai lady matched the pace and remained close till 7-7. The top seed adopted
the aggressive style and quickly scored four points in a row. Till the one minute interval, Shixian was leading the set with a decent difference of 11-7.
The Chinese remained on the right track and stretched her lead by taking five consecutive points at 16-8. Porntip was lacking the pace and precision in the rallies that spared the opportunity to the top seed to dominate the game. The Thai shuttler reduced
the difference by reaching at 15-18. But again, the number one seed accelerated the speed and scored the remaining points in a row. She won the first set by a good margin of 21-15 in just 15 minutes.
In the second game of the first round match, Shixian remained ahead of the opponent in the first half of the set. At one-minute interval, the Chinese was leading with three-point margin of 11-8. The top seed extended her lead after the break and reached
at 14-9. Porntip fought back and reduced the gap and levelled the score at 16-16. Shixian became aggressive again and finished the game by scoring four consecutive points to make it 21-17 win. The final score of the 35-minute match was 21-15 and 21-17.
The world number one has already won two back to back tournaments in the form of Series Finals and Malaysia Open Super Series, in the opening month of 2011. The top seed is in great shape and is quite hopeful to continue her winning streak by winning the
title in this event. In the second round, Shixian will be facing the winner of Susan Egelstaff of Scotland and the Chinese shuttler, Xin (F) Liu.
Tags: