Taufik Hidayat eases into Men’s Singles round-of-16 at the 2011 Indonesia Open Grand Prix Gold
Indonesia’s most celebrated shuttler, Taufik Hidayat eased into the Men’s Singles round-of-16 as he sent Malaysia’s Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin packing in the second round of the 2011 Indonesia Open Grand Prix Gold, in Indonesia, on Thursday, September
29.
World Number Five ranked shuttler, Taufik, who has been struggling to find winning form for the last one year, finished-off the battle in straight games by taking just 30 minutes in the court. The Indonesian is always calm in the court, which earns him a
considerable psychological advantage over all opponents.
The former Olympic and World Champion, Taufik took his time in the first set to get accommodated with the conditions of the court. He showed glimpses of his skills in the second set and ended the encounter by a stunning margin.
The wonderful exchange of attacking rallies between both shuttlers grabbed the attention of the Indonesian crowd who turned out to watch their hero in action. Taufik was the leader of the game in the opening half, when he reached at 11-10.
After the break, Iskandar employed all his skills to progress with the same pace against the local shuttler. The score was 17-17 when Taufik changed his tactics and started to push the Malaysian in both corners of the rear-court area. His strategy worked
well and earned him the opening-set led by a narrow margin of 21-19 in 20 minutes.
In the second set, Taufik put up a fabulous show of his incredible skills against the young Malaysian, who failed to match his rival in all aspects of the game. The Indonesian progressed in the game without facing any resistance from Iskandar and finished
the match in just 10 minutes with a stunning margin of 21-6. The concluding result of this straight-set contest was 21-19 and 21-6.
In the round-of-16, Taufik will lock horns against another Malaysian shuttler, Chong Wei Feng, who defeated Indonesia’s Rudi Cahyadi Budhiawan in the second round. Wei Feng is in tremendous form and will be a tough nut to crack for Taufik who is not in his
prime form.
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