Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir ease into Mixed Doubles second round of Swiss Open GP Gold 2012
Indonesia’s Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir eased into Mixed Doubles second round after beating Germany’s Sandra Marinello and Johannes Schoettler in the first round of Swiss Open GP Gold 2012 at Basel, Switzerland, on Wednesday, March 14.
The World Number Four Tontowi and Liliyana, who won All England Open crown last week, showed an elevated performance in their first encounter at Swiss Open as they took just 24 minutes to overpower their German rivals in straight games.
However, the Indonesians did not let their opponents to dictate the pace of rallies and remained in complete control in both sets.
In the opening round, Tontowi and Liliyana dictated the pace of rallies from the starting points and remained in control throughout the first half. They set up a remarkable lead of 11-3 on the score board.
After the break, they continued playing top quality badminton and did not let their German opponents to reduce the deficit.
Tontowi and Liliyana remained positive in the whole opening game and won it with a one-sided margin of 21-11.
In the second game, the German duo also played well and remained close until the one-minute interval.
However, Tontowi and Liliyana geared up their speed after the break and bagged the second set with a stunning 21-10 score on the board.
While talking about the match, Liliyana said that it was not as easy as the score board suggests because they had to work hard to find a good flow in the court.
She said, “They almost caught us in the second game, but we managed to keep our focus and control on the match.”
Liliyana also told about her upcoming plans to find a better seeding in the 2012 Olympic Games.
She said, “We’ll still be playing in several tournaments after this. We want to better our ranking so we’ll have an easier draw in London. However, we also have to maintain our fitness level so we won’t be hit by fatigue when the Olympics starts.”
In the second round of Swiss Open, Tontowi and Liliyana will take on Anders Kristiansen and Line Damkjaer Kruse of Denmark.
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