Tine Baun stuns Wang Shixian in Women’s Singles semi-final of the Singapore Open Super Series
Denmark’s Tine Baun stunned China’s Wang Shixian, in the Women’s Singles semi-final of the 2011 Singapore Open Super Series, at Singapore City, on Saturday, June 18, 2011.
Tine played remarkable badminton and took only 34 minutes to brush aside the top seed Shixian, who is currently the World Number One in the Women’s Singles rankings.
In the first game, both ladies started the game in an attacking manner, but it was the Chinese who took a wonderful lead of 7-3 in a flash. Tine accelerated her speed and started to hit the bird hard from her forehand side of the rear court and levelled
the game by reaching at 7-7. Shixian committed many errors by hitting the bird wide of the court.
Tine was coming more early at the net, which helped her in executing superb net strokes to build more pressure on her opponent. At the interval in the opening game, Tine was lading the set by a two-point difference of 11-9.
After the break, the Danish kept her momentum going and reached 15-11. At this point in the set, Shixian played better at the net and drew near at 14-16, where the Danish controlled the rallies and finished the opening set by a 21-15 margin, in just 15 minutes.
The start of the second set was excellent for Baun, who scored three consecutive points to make it a 3-0 lead. However, the Chinese also scored two successive points by changing her tactics. Shixian was playing straight and cross court semi-smashes to force
the Danish to lean forward.
Tine was playing at her best, as she missed no opportunity to hit powerful smashes, followed by deceptive net strokes. Her superb play brought her a good lead of 9-3 against the shaky Chinese. At the interval, Tine took a six-point advantage by reaching
11-5.
After the break, Shixian played smart by targeting the back hand corner of her opponent, which earned her three points. However, the Danish remained focused and progressed towards victory by reaching at 18-12.
Tine’s power-play at the ending moments of the second game earned her victory over Shixian, by a 21-16 margin in 29 minutes. The concluding score of the 34-minute straight-set contest was 21-15 and 21-16.
In the final, Tine will be up against Wang Xin of China, who trounced Jie Yao of Netherlands in the semi-final of the event.
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