Tontowi Ahmad, Liliyana Natsir clutch a quarter-final seat in 2012 Macau Open Badminton GP Gold
Mixed Doubles partners Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir showed superb coordination and earned a spot in the quarter-finals of Kumpoo Macau Open Badminton Grand Prix Gold on November 29, 2012.
They overwhelmed Tan Aik Quan-Lai Jing Pei in a second round match that prolonged to 31 minutes before ending with 21-17 and 21-14 margin.
World Number two Indonesian duo, the top seeded team of this ongoing tournament, relished full benefits of its supremacy and sealed a splendid straight-set victory.
On the other hand, Aik Quan and Lai Jing failed to rise in front of the higher ranked opponents and knelt down tamely.
First sign of trouble came for the Malaysian team when the twosome of Tontowi and Liliyana launched a brisk attack and pushed them on the back-foot.
They were not ready for such an intensive assault and remained at the lower end in most part of the game.
In first set of the match, Tontowi and Liliyana were a bit sluggish as they lost a few valuable points in the establishing rallies.
However, they revived the lost form and stormed back with a strong reply. They levelled the score at 13-13 and then gained a decent advantage by putting 18-14 margin.
This lead proved the decisive factor as Aik Quan and Lai Jing could not come out of this deficit and faced a 17-21 defeat.
The following game was also played in similar fashion as both contenders challenged each other in the first half of the set but latter part of game proved a dead contest.
Initially, the Malaysian players showed an elevated craft and established a respectable lead but their supremacy was short lived as the opposing team counter-balanced the situation with a gutsy knock.
Tontowi and Liliyana bagged valuable points at steady pace and strengthened their grip with an indomitable score position of 11.
They did not give their challengers even a single chance to come back and locked the honour in splendid manner.
The Indonesian shuttlers registered a winning total of 21-14 and qualified for the quarter-final round. Now their next challenge will be to surpass Tarun Kona-Ashwini Ponnappa of India.
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