US Open 2012: Tony Gunawan, Vita Marissa secure berth in round of 16 in Mixed Doubles event
Mixed Doubles partners Tony Gunawan-Vita Marissa have just started their journey but they showed commendable coordination against Hock Lai Lee-Priscilla Lun and marched into second round of Yonex OCBC US Open GPG on July 3, 2012.
Though, this first round battle was resolved in just 25 minutes but both pairs had to sweat hard in three gruelling sets to read final result of 10-21, 21-12 and 21-6.
The duo came from behind and stole the lime-light by prevailing in the last two sets of the match.
In the opening game, local shuttlers Hock Lai and Priscilla relished full benefits of the home ground and crowd. They took some time to get on track but never looked back after gaining right momentum.
They set the ball rolling by clinching five consecutive points after 2-3 and reached at dominating position of 7-3.
They did not lose focus and raised their total to 11-6 before the announcement of mid-game break.
This initial advantage boosted their confidence and they played attacking badminton in later part of the game.
The US couple widened the gap with 15-8 in the third quarter and then left their challengers far behind with a decisive margin of 21-10.
Tony Gunawan and Vita Marissa, who belong to USA and Indonesia respectively, did not show any sign of confusion after this immediate blow and stood firm in the very next game.
They launched an effective counter-attack strategy which yielded best results. This time they did not waste time and quickly placed a decent total of 5-2.
They continued with similar pace all the way to half time and put a convincing figure of 11-4 before the interval.
After the one-minute break, they injected more intensity in their attack and confined the opposing team to the rear court. The concluding score of 21-12 was proof of their unshakable grip over the game.
Third set turned a flat contest as the twosome of Hock Lai and Priscilla hardly put any resistance and surrendered in a disgraceful manner.
Tony Gunawan and Vita Marissa sealed a splendid 21-6 victory and setup a pre quarter-final clash with top seeded Russian duo Alexandr Nikolaenko-Valeri Sorokina.
Tags: