US Open 2012: Semi-final ticket for Kenichi Hayakawa, Misaki Matsutomo in Mixed Doubles event
Japan’s Kenichi Hayakawa and Misaki Matsutomo powered their way to the semi-finals of Yonex OCBC US Open GPG by stamping Phillip Chew-Jamie Subandhi on Thursday, July 5, 2012.
This quarter-final tussle was played at Orange County Badminton Club (OCBC) and a huge crowd assembled to support local shuttlers in this crucial match.
Both contenders remained busy on the court for 32 minutes before placing final result of 9-21, 21-17 and 15-21.
The victorious duo will now test their skills against Canadian pair Toby Ng-Grace Gao in second last round of this Grand Prix Gold event.
World Number 46 team of Kenichi-Misaki will surely make every effort to remain invincible like quarter-final round in which they locked a splendid 2-1 win.
They finished this nerve-racking battle in their favour despite going down in the middle. They laid foundation of their supremacy straight away in the first set.
They launched a brisk attack straight away in the beginning and prevailed in eleven rallies without any interruption.
The US shuttlers could not rise all the way to half time and suffered an eleven-point deficit. They disappointed their supporters in the later part of the game and lost a vital match point with 21-9 margin.
However, Phillip and Jamie did not surrender tamely as they made amends in the very next game.
In the first half, both pairs were equal until 6-6 but then the native team unleashed a series of unbeatable rallies to place a respectable total of 11-6 before the interval.
After mid-game break, the opposing team made swift progress and narrowed the gap with 13-16 margin but they could not carry this momentum in the final moments.
Kenichi and Misaki, who are ranked at number three in this tournament, kept trailing behind their rivals which ultimately resulted in a decisive figure of 17-21.
The audience was expecting US campaigners to end decider in favourable manner but their hopes got buried when Japanese couple locked the honour with a notable difference in the concluding margin.
They bagged the first half with 11-7 and then magnified the impact by registering 21-15 score on the board.
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