Vladimir Ivanov storms into Men’s Singles quarter-final at Russia Open Grand Prix 2012
Russia’s top player Vladimir Ivanov stormed into Men’s Singles quarter-final after showing his class at round-of-16 stage when he ousted Vladimir Rusin in Russia Open Grand Prix 2012 at Vladivostok, Russia, on Thursday, June 28.
The World Number 46 Ivanov, who is positioned at number one in Men’s Singles main draw of Russia Open, worked a little hard on court and ousted his lower ranked compatriot by taking less than half-an-hour.
The top seeded Ivanov started it well and won the first set with a good margin. However, he had to play at his best in the following game against his spirited rival and managed to win it with a tight margin.
On the other hand, Rusin started his run against his higher ranked team-mate in a confused manner but he showed his brilliance in the second set when he troubled Ivanov all the way until the ending points when he remained unlucky and lost the battle with
a respectable score.
Both Russians played competitive badminton in opening rallies of first set and entertained their home fans by keeping the pace of game at the maximum level.
However, the experienced Ivanov took over the control of rallies by injecting variations in his points and started to dictate his lower ranked opponent in all areas of the court.
Until the one-minute break in opening set, it was the top seeded Ivanov who took a superb lead of 11-7 on the board.
After the break, Ivanov showed no mercy to his compatriot as he kept the pace high while remaining quick in the court and took the game with a huge difference of 21-14.
However, an interesting fight was yet to come for badminton fans at the indoor arena in Vladivostok as the un-seeded Rusin showed his class in second game.
Rusin was impressive in his positive and aggressive play, denying his higher ranked rival to take lead until the mid-game interval.
After the break, Ivanov became aggressive but failed to outclass his rival who was playing at his best.
The in-form Rusin reached at 20-18 but failed to take the last point as Ivanov controlled the pace and scored four points in a row to grab the set with a 22-20 score on the board.
Ivanov emerged as victorious in this interesting Men’s Singles pre-quarter-final contest with a decent score 21-14 and 22-20.
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