Wang Yihan ousts Intanon Ratchanok to clear quarter-final round of Li Ning China Masters
Women’s Singles expert Wang Yihan continued with her winning streak in the Li Ning China Masters and qualified for the semi-final round on Friday, September 14, 2012.
The Chinese campaigner outclassed Intanon Ratchanok of Thailand in all areas of the game and sealed a splendid straight-set win.
This quarter-final encounter kept both contenders busy in the local badminton arena of Changzhou for 39 minutes.
World Number one Wang Yihan proved herself superior technically and tactically as she stole the limelight with a 21-15 and 21-17 margin.
She played with great precision and did not give her challenger even a single chance to bounce back.
In the opening game, she kept a low profile in the preliminary stage but stunned Intanon Ratchanok with a striking knock in the latter part of the game.
The Thai shuttler raised her chances of success by putting up a decent total of 6-2 in the beginning and then doubled the impact with a respectable score position of 11 before the interval.
However, the story was entirely different after the mid-game break as Wang Yihan reinstated her dominance with eight consecutive points.
She did not lose focus even after placing an indomitable margin of 17-11 and kept playing sensibly. Finally, hard work paid off and she raised hands as the victor with a favourable result of 21-15.
The second set, which turned into a decider later, heated up with both contenders pushing each other in all areas of the court.
They put all in their possession to gain an early advantage but neither of them could enjoy a permanent lead until half time.
Initially, the Chinese player pushed her competitor on the back-foot with 4-1 total but Intanon Ratchanok counter-balanced the situation by dominating the next couple of rallies.
Both female shuttlers were locked in a tough competition when Wang Yihan struck hard and made a notable difference of seven points in 17-10.
Despite of the mistakes, she managed to keep her rival grounded and became the first semi-finalist with 21-17 score on the board.
Now she will test her skills either against Sapsiree Taerattanachai or the Japanese player Minatsu Mitani in the second last round of this Super Series.
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