Takuma Ueda works hard to beat Bandar Sigit Pamungkas in first round of the Indonesia Open GP Gold
Japan’s Takuma Ueda had to dig deep into his arsenal to beat Indonesia’s Bandar Sigit Pamungkas in the Men’s Singles first round of the Indonesia Open GP Gold, in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, on Wednesday, September 28.
World Number 37, Ueda opened his campaign at the Indonesia Open in quivering manner as he had to work extra hard to beat the local shuttler in a three-set battle which took 65 minutes of competitive badminton from both sides.
Ueda started his campaign against Bandar in an impressive way as he dictated the pace of the game and put his opponent in trouble by pushing him in all corners of the court.
Ueda's wonderful variations kept Bandar disturbed throughout the opening set. The Indonesian tried to play a positive game but failed to control the pace. Ueda clinched the first set in 21 minutes with a margin of 21-15.
In the second game, the Indonesian gained his confidence by having the support of the local crowd. He remained close to his Japanese rival until the end of the first part of the set when he was leading with an 11-10 margin.
After the break, both shuttlers became aggressive by injecting more speed in their strokes. However, the Indonesian was ready this time and played a wonderful game until the score reached at the critical stage of 20-20. The Japanese failed to control the
rallies at this stage and lost the set by a 20-22 difference in 26 minutes.
In the final set, Ueda changed his tactics and started to push the bird long from the net to keep his opponent as far as possible from the net. It worked well and the Japanese remained successful in setting up an 11-7 lead.
After the break, Ueda remained quick in all areas and spared no chance for the local shuttler to reduce the difference. The Japanese continued his positive and planned play and won the set by a 21-14 score in 18 minutes. This 65-minute rubber-set fight ended
with a 21-15, 20-22 and 21-14 margin.
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