US Open Grand Prix Gold 2012: Niluka Karunaratne finds perfect result in Men’s Singles first round
Sri Lanka’s top shuttler Niluka Karunaratne found an impressive start in Men’s Singles first round of US Open Grand Prix Gold 2012 when he easily toppled Ryan Chew of USA in Los Angeles, on Monday, July 2.
The right-handed Niluka, who is number five seed in Men’s Singles main draw of the championship, has been desperately looking for a breakthrough for the last couple of years.
However, the Sri Lankan has achieved a certain level of skills as he put up superb show against the local shuttler and easily advanced into the second round after beating him in two games with a one-sided score.
Ryan, on the other hand, could not handle the aggression of his higher ranked opponent and also failed to maintain the pace of rallies. He was taking the bird late and eventually knelt down to Niluka in straight sets in just 20 minutes.
It was a smooth sailing for Niluka in the opening half of first game as he played with precision and injected variations in his shots.
Until the mid-game interval in first set, the talented Sri Lankan was moving miles ahead on the board with a comfortable score of 11-5.
After the one-minute break, the impressive Niluka continued his composed game without facing any interruption. He did not let the speed of rallies down and maintained his upper hand over his lower ranked local opponent.
Niluka was in impressive touch on court and he bagged the first game against Ryan quite easily with an amazing score of 21-11.
In the second set, Niluka was again in commanding position but he could not get a comfortable lead this time as his rivals remained closely behind on the score board until the one-minute interval.
After the break, Niluka geared up his speed and executed beautiful net killings. The powerful smashes and control at the net helped Niluka to end up the second game with a comfortable difference of 21-14.
The in-form Niluka wrapped up superb victory in Men’s Singles first round against Ryan in straight games with a convincing 21-11 and 21-14 margin on the score board.
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