Yanjiao Jiang crushes Shao Chieh Cheng in Women’s Singles semi-final of the Thailand Open GP Gold
China’s Women’s Singles shuttler, Yanjiao Jiang, has beaten Shao Chieh Cheng of Chinese Taipei, in a rubber-set semi-final match of the 2011 Thailand Open GP Gold, in Thailand, on Saturday, June 11.
Shao Chieh opened the game in a surprising way against the World Number Six, Yanjiao, who was playing a slow game in the opening half of the first set. The Chinese Taipei’s shuttler wasted no time in reaching 10-3 by playing with precision. She utilised
every opportunity to score points against the nervous Chinese and established an eight-point lead of 11-3.
The invincible Shao Chieh sprinted towards the ending points of the opening game by playing in high-class fashion. She manipulated all the weaknesses of her Chinese opponent, who was not matching the speed of the game. Shao Chieh clinched the first game
in just 13 minutes by maintaining an impressive gap of 21-10.
Chieh started the second game in similar manner by reaching at 3-1. However, Yanjiao then geared up her speed and reached 7-5. The contest became interesting as both ladies started to play at the same level with equivalent speed. The sixth seed levelled
the score by reaching 9-9.
Yanjiao took control of the rallies by changing her tactics and started to dictate the pace of the bird. She managed a comfortable lead of 17-12 by playing perfect badminton. The second seed grabbed the set by a 21-12 margin, in 21 minutes.
In the deciding game, the second seed Chinese remained on the driving seat in the first-half of the set and reached at 11-9, before the one-minute interval. She employed her superb semi-smash strokes to shake the stability of her opponent form the base line
and was successful in creating gaps to hit powerful smashes.
However, Shao Chieh was close by matching the speed of the Chinese, who was putting more speed in the game. Yanjiao again built a six-point gap by reaching 18-12. She clinched the deciding set by 21-14 difference, after consuming 27 minutes in the court.
The 61-minute rubber-set match ended with a 10-21, 21-12 and 21-14 margin.
In the final, Yanjiao Jiang will be up against either compatriot Xuerui Li or Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand.
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