Taufik Hidayat surges into semi-final of Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold – Badminton News
Indonesia’s legendry player Taufik Hidayat continued his successful run and surged into the semi-final of the Men’s singles event in Swiss Open on March 16, 2012.
The World Number 12 shuttler Taufik stamped Shon Wan Ho from Korea in quarter-final tussle with 21-14, 10-21 and 21-19 final score on the board.
He will face Chen Jin of China who eased into semi-final by beating the Malaysian shuttler Daren Liew in the quarter-final of the event.
Taufik, who is turning 31 in August, displayed his experience and brilliance throughout the epic 62-minute tussle and did not allow his rival to match him in any aspect of the game.
The veteran Indonesian launched a brisk attack in opening set of the match and Korean defence could not last for long as he collapsed after resisting in the beginning.
The former World Champion Taufik Hidayat registered his class while scoring an impressive margin of 21-14 against Shon Wan Ho and snatched crucial match point.
However, the World Number 18 shuttler Shon Wan Ho performed well against his higher ranked opponent in the following game. He buried Taufik’s hope for a straight-set victory by beating him with a significant 11 points lead on score board.
The 23-year-old Shon Wan played like a mature shuttler against his seasoned rival Taufik and did not spare any loop hole for him. He clinched the second match point by putting final figure of 21-10 in score log.
The 1-1 match score position made both players sweat hard in the final third set. They put a decent show of their skills to surpass each other in the decider.
Taufik Hidayat, with valuable experience of 15 years at professional level, established his authority over his relatively young opponent and cornered him in most part of the game.
The Korean contender Shon Wan tried to catch him on the score board till 19 points but Taufik’s giant leap in the end put his expedition to halt. The third set belonged to Taufik with final score of 21-19.
This win took the legend Indonesian player into top four where he will be up against a tough opponent, the World Number five Chen Jin from China.
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