Swiss Open: Lee Hyun Il stamps his supremacy over Chen Long in Men’s Singles semi-final showdown
Korea’s top shuttler Lee Hyun Il stamped his supremacy in the arena as he defeated the higher ranked Chen Long of China in Men’s Singles semi-final of Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold 2012 in Switzerland, on Saturday, March 17.
Lee Hyun, the World Number Seven and fifth seed in Men’s Singles draw of Swiss Open, showed a phenomenal performance and thrashed Long, who has been placed at number three in the world.
The Korean displayed a spectacular show of top quality badminton for 47 minutes and ended the matched in straight games without showing any deficiency in his play.
The start of the match was entertaining when both elite shuttlers employed their hard-to-learn skills and progressed equally until the score reached 5-5.
At this stage, Lee Hyun geared up his speed and started to construct lead by playing with precision. He was in complete control and managed to set up an 11-8 lead until the one-minute interval.
After the break, he continued his killing play without dropping the speed of rallies at any stage. His flawless net play was the major difference between both players as the Korean was dominating the game in this area.
Long could not play his normal game as his experienced opponent was in complete control of the pace of rallies.
Lee Hyun bagged the first game in a tremendous fashion as he ended it with a remarkable 21-14 score on the board.
In the second game, both shuttlers remained equal until 6-6 when Long managed a comfortable lead of 10-6. However he failed to maintain it as his opponent geared up his speed and levelled the score.
Until the one-minute interval, both shuttlers remained close on the score board.
After the break, both men continued playing in the similar fashion as no one could take a reasonable lead until 16-16 when Long again manage to take three points in a row.
However, the Chinese again failed to maintain his lead as Lee Hyun played superb game and scored five consecutive points to bag the set with a close margin of 21-19.
Lee Hyun won this straight-set contest in a convincing manner with a 21-14 and 21-19 score on the board.
In the title match, Lee Hyun will be up against another Chinese player Chen Jin who defeated Indonesia’s Taufik Hidayat in the other semi-final contest.
Tags: