Tontowi Ahmad and Lilyana Natsir continue their winning streak at the Singapore Open Super Series
Indonesia’s Mixed Doubles couple of Tontowi Ahmad and Lilyana Natsir continued their winning streak by beating Wen Hsing Cheng and Hung Ling Chen of Taiwan, in the final of the Singapore Open Super Series 2011, held at Singapore City, on Sunday, June 19.
The Indonesian couple is enjoying a roller-coaster ride this year, as they have clinched three consecutive titles in back-to-back events which include the India Open Super Series 2011, Malaysia Open GP Gold 2011 and the recent Singapore Open.
Tontowi and Lilyana, who are ranked at Number Five in the Mixed Doubles world rankings, thrashed the Taiwanese duo in a straight-set fight with a score of 21-14 and 27-25.
After winning the final match, Lilyana said, “I’m really glad of the victory. Hopefully, we can maintain our performance in the upcoming Indonesia Open because we will face more great players.”
In the opening set of the final match, the Indonesian couple found no considerable resistance in the first set, where they delivered a stunning performance and maintained a good lead throughout the game.
The Taiwanese pair failed to cope up with the power-play of the Indonesian shuttlers, who finished up the set by a good margin of 21-14.
However, in the second game, the Indonesians became a little relaxed which helped their opponents to win points and set a good lead of 18-15. Despite a spirited comeback from their rivals, the Indonesian duo levelled the score by playing aggressive badminton.
In the concluding part of the second game, the Taiwanese couple played better and stretched their challengers at 25-25. However, the Indonesians managed to score two successive points and won the set by a 27-25 difference. The final score of the title-match
was 21-14 and 27-25.
While talking about the wonderful fight in the second set of the final match, the 25-year-old Lilyana said, “I did not think about catching up. All we did was collect one point after another.”
Tontowi and Lilyana are determined to continue their winning run in the upcoming Indonesia Open Premier Super Series 2011, starting in Jakarta, Indonesia, from June 21.
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