Xiao Jia Chen crushes Anastasia Prokopenko to surge into quarter-final of Russian Open Grand Prix
China’s rising star, Xiao Jia Chen, booked her place into the Women’s Singles quarter-final, after defeating Russia’s Anastasia Prokopenko in the second round of the Russian Open Grand Prix 2011, at Vladivostok, Russia, on Thursday, June 30, 2011.
Xiao Jia, who is currently World Number 152, played positive badminton against the experienced Russian and emerged as the winner in straight-sets. The Chinese took a court time of 39 minutes to send Anastasia packing, without facing any strong resistance from her.
Xiao Jia started her impressive run in the first set and found no trouble in setting up a wonderful lead of 11-6 in the first-half. Anastasia could not produce better form in the first game against the spirited Chinese, who was hitting the bird hard in the straight and cross-court areas, followed by superb tumbling strokes at the net.
After the break, the Russian changed her tactics to catch up the difference, but she failed to break the flow of the Chinese, who was dictating the pace of the game. The fast speed of the Chinese helped her in creating gaps in her opponent’s court and she perfectly placed her strikes in these areas. Xiao Jia won the first set with a 21-12 margin in 17 minutes.
As the game progressed, the Russian’s defence became strong and she started to play better against the Chinese, who was now putting more variations in her strokes. Until the interval in the second game, the Chinese was leading with a small margin of 11-9.
After the interval, Anastasia lost her control over the game as she threw away several points by committing unforced errors. The quivering play of the Russian helped Xiao Jia to extend her lead.
The Chinese did not miss the opportunity to finish the game with a gap of six points, by a 21-15 margin in 20 minutes. Xiao Jia emerged as the winner in this straight-set match, which ended in 39 minutes with a 21-12 and 21-15 score on the board.
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