Xu Chen - Ma Jin crush Kenta Kazuno - Ayaka Takahashi in round-of-16: China Masters Super Series
China’s Xu Chen and Ma Jin proved their skills as they crushed Kenta Kazuno and Ayaka Takahashi of Japan in the Mixed Doubles round-of-16 of the Li Ning China Masters Super Series, in China, on Thursday, September 15.
Xu and Ma are currently ranked at Number 9 in the Mixed Doubles world rankings, and the pair is also fifth seed in the draw of China Masters. They played remarkable badminton and proved the huge gap in their skills when compared to the Japanese pair. The
Chinese duo took just 26 minutes to finish the match in straight games by playing high-class badminton.
The Chinese couple played an attacking game right from the starting points of the opening set. Their tactics worked for them in a desired manner as they established a wonderful lead in the start. The Japanese duo failed to tackle the aggressive badminton
of their opponents. At the end of the first-half, the fifth seeded Chinese shuttlers reached at 11-4.
After the break, the Japanese couple tried to bridge the huge gap but they completely failed against the aggression and perfection of their higher ranked opponents. Xu and Ma executed powerful smashes coupled with impressive net killings which helped them
maintain pressure on the Japanese shuttlers. The Chinese duo clinched the first game in wonderful fashion as they finished it with a stunning score of 21-9.
In the second set of this round-of-16 contest, the fifth seeds continued their roller coaster run against the confused Japanese duo and easily established a comfortable six-point lead of 11-5. The Japanese couple failed to play well as their wrong stroke
selection and lack of finishing touches kept them down at 6-11, in the first-half.
After the break in the second game, the Chinese shuttlers progressed with similar speed by playing flawless badminton. They finished the rallies with impressive strokes after getting a lose return. Their perfect play helped them in finishing-off the second
game by a 21-13 score. Xu and Ma won the match in just 26 minutes with a margin of 21-9 and 21-13.
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