Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir nail Mixed Doubles title at All England Open Premier Super Series
Indonesia’s top shuttlers Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir stamped their supremacy in the arena by grabbing Mixed Doubles title at All England Open Premier Super Series 2012 at Birmingham, England, on Sunday, March 11.
The World Number Four Tontowi and Liliyana, who were the fourth seeds in Mixed Doubles main draw of the event, showed a strong performance in the final contest and easily defeated the eighth seeds Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl of Denmark.
The higher ranked Indonesians proved their elevated skills against the Danish duo and took 43 minutes to end the final battle in straight games.
The Danish couple played well in both games and put up good show of fast badminton but failed to overpower the Indonesian shuttlers who were perfect in the court.
The match started in an interesting way when both couples showed their aggression in the court and played with precision.
They remained close in the opening half of the game by playing to their maximum potential.
However, Tontowi and Liliyana employed their experience and started to take lead in the concluding part of the opening game and remained successful in setting up a good lead.
The Indonesians were focused in the ending phase of first set and did not let their opponents to level the score. They bagged the first game with a reasonable margin of 21-17.
In the second set, Laybourn and Juhl tried to play well but failed as their higher ranked challengers were better in the court. The Indonesians managed a remarkable lead of 11-6 until the interval.
However, after the break, the Danish duo played elevated game and remained successful in bridging the gap by reaching at 19-19.
At this crucial stage in the second game, Tontowi and Liliyana controlled the pace of rallies by accelerating their speed at net.
They played with precision and scored two consecutive points to bag the set by a close 21-19 score on the board.
The higher ranked Tontowi and Liliyana emerged as title winners by ending the final contest in 43 minutes with a reasonable margin of 21-17 and 21-19.
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