Tontowi Ahmad, Liliyana Natsir march into pre quarter-finals of India Open 2012
Mixed Doubles experts of Indonesia Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir reserved their seat in second round of Yonex Sunrise India Open after beating their rivals Ko Sung Hyun-Eom Hye Won in first round on April 25, 2012.
The 42-minute tussle was resolved in favour of Indonesian couple with final figures of 21-9, 17-21 and 21-18.
World Number three pair Tontowi-Liliyana played superior badminton and proved their class in their opening match of the event.
On the other hand, the lower ranked Korean couple had to bid farewell despite putting up some commendable resistance.
In opening game of the match, Tontowi and Liliyana forged a fruitful chemistry and outclassed their challengers in all areas of game. They dictated their rivals all the way to game point situation and clinched first match point.
They established an unassailable lead with 11-4 score on the board in first half of the set.
After the mid-game break they added six points in their total and raised their total from 11 to 17 points. This was final blow for their competitors as they could not cover the gap and surrendered after reading final figure of 21-9.
However, World Number 23 pair Sung Hyun-Hye Won stunned the superior rivals in next game and managed to stay in the match.
This time they did not allow Indonesian duo to gain a notable lead and stayed close to them throughout the second set.
Though, Tontowi and Liliyana placed a decent margin of 11-7 before the interval but they lost grip in later part of the set and the Koreans equalled score at 15-15.
The unseeded duo Sung Hyun-Hye Won got into a commanding position with some uninterrupted rallies and maintained their upper hand until game point situation.
They bagged second set with an impressive figure of 21-17 and setup a nerve-racking tussle in the decider.
Tontowi-Liliyana, who are also ranked second in this tournament, had to face strong resistance in third set from their lower ranked opponents but they managed to hit the mark.
They stayed just two points ahead until the interval but maintained their supremacy throughout the decider and swept the board with decisive total 21-18.
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