Taufik Hidayat advances into Men’s Singles quarter-final at Australian Open Grand Prix Gold 2012
Indonesia’s experienced shuttler Taufik Hidayat powered his way into Men’s Singles quarter-final after crushing Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana in the round-of-16 at Australian Open Grand Prix Gold 2012 on Thursday, April 5, in Sydney.
The fifth seed Taufik, who is currently World Number 11, showed his superiority in the court by playing with an impressive strategy against his experienced opponent and won the contest without dropping any set.
Taufik was in commanding position in the match as he did not let his Thai opponent to find a good rhythm. He ended the match in straight sets by working for 47 minutes in the court.
On the other hand, Ponsana could not produce better form against his experienced Indonesian opponent and bowed down to him without making any impact.
In the opening points of starting game, both men played with precision and remained positive. However, Taufik started to inject power in his strokes and troubled his Thai opponent by pushing him in all corners.
The former World and Olympic Champion Taufik was quite relaxed in the court as he played with precision and managed a reasonable lead until the mid-game interval.
After the break, Taufik continued his commanding position without facing tough resistance from Ponsana who struggled hard to take the bird early.
Taufik won the opening game with a five-point margin of 21-16 on the board.
In the second game, the Indonesian was again in complete control as he remained ahead of his opponent in the opening points.
However, Ponsana played better game this time and managed to end the deficit by reaching at 10-10. Until the break, both men were close as no one could manage a comfortable gap.
After the interval, Taufik geared up his speed and played fascinating strokes at net. He was perfect in his execution of strokes and managed to win the set with a tremendous margin of 21-16.
The Indonesian won this round-of-16 contest in two sets with a 21-16 and 21-16 score on the board.
In the quarter-final showdown, Taufik will lock horns against Japan’s Sho Sasaki who overpowered Hong Kong’s Hu Yun in another pre-quarter-final encounter.
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