Tontowi Ahmad, Liliyana Natsir seize quarter-final berth in 2013 Indonesia Open – Badminton news
Mixed Doubles partners Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir continued their successful run in the home event Djarum Indonesia Open and marched into quarter-final round on June 13, 2013.
They locked horns with a compatriot duo Fran Kurniawan-Shendy Puspa Irawati and this tussle remained in full swing for 37 minutes. The local badminton arena of Jakarta was filled to its brim as a huge crowd gathered to support the native shutters.
This pre quarter-final match prolonged to three gruelling sets as both teams put all they had to read decisive figures of 12-21, 21-12 and 21-11.
Initially, the twosome of Fran and Shendy ruled the court but then their below par performance weakened their grip and they crashed out of the tournament in a disgraceful manner. On the other hand, the victorious duo showed great fighting spirit and locked
the honour.
In first set of the match, Tontowi and Liliyana were bit sluggish as they failed to move swiftly across the court and dropped many valuable points. Their passive approach gave Fran-Shendy an opportunity to proceed on the points table.
The lower ranked but talented Indonesian team did not squander this opportunity and piled up a decent total before the one-minute break. The latter part of the game was also dominated by them as they maintained a significant difference of nine points and
won this crucial set with 21-12 score.
Next game was just a replay of first one but the result was different this time. The partnership of Tontowi and Liliyana was at its best in this game as both players did not give the opposing shuttlers even a single opportunity to come back.
They mounted pressure by registering an unassailable score of 11 and then magnified the impact with a concluding figure of 21-12. This splendid win boosted their confidence and they played with even more precision in third set of the match.
The decider started with Tontowi-Liliyana unleashing a flurry of power packed strokes. They did not show mercy at any stage of the game and sealed their victory with 21-11 margin.
With this triumph, they paved path to quarter-finals of Indonesia Open and their next challengers will be Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying.
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