Wenlong Zhou topples Vladimir Ivanov in Men’s Singles first round of the Russian Open Grand Prix
China’s Wenlong Zhou proved his skills by beating Vladimir Ivanov of Russia in the Men’s Singles first round of the Russian Open Grand Prix 2011, at Vladivostok, Russia, on Wednesday, June 29, 2011.
The talented Chinese delivered a tremendous performance against the experienced Ivanov and won the fight in straight games, without facing any considerable resistance from his opponent. He finished off the straight-set match by taking a court time for just
27 minutes.
Wenlong opened the game in an authoritative manner, as he was incredibly quick in picking the bird from all areas of the court. He made the Russian move around in all corners of the court by playing at his highest speed.
Ivanov was struggling to play at such a fast speed and made many unforced errors in the first set. Until the interval of the opening game, the Chinese was far ahead of the Russian by reaching at 11-5.
Ivanov was not matching the speed of the Chinese, who refused to slow down the pace in the rallies. Wenlong progressed in the game in an impressive fashion, as he was successful in avoiding errors throughout the entire opening game.
Wenlong executed powerful smashes followed by net killings, as his speed was at the maximum level. He was playing to his full potential against the local shuttler, who failed to cheer the home crowd in the first game. The Chinese won the game quite easily
with a one-sided score of 21-11, in just 12 minutes.
Ivanov changed his strategy in the second game and started to play long pushes, to keep his rival away from the net. The change worked well for the Russian, as he was successful in controlling the pace of the game. The score progressed with the same speed
from both sides.
After the break, both shuttlers played top-quality badminton and at the crucial stage of 20-20, the Chinese played smartly and clinched the remaining points to win the set by a 22-20 difference, in 15 minutes. The 27-minute straight-game battle finished
with a 21-11 and 22-20 margin.
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