Yonex Japan Open 2012: Tien Minh Nguyen beats Brice Leverdez in Men’s Singles first round
Vietnam’s Tien Minh Nguyen found a struggling start as he played quivering badminton in Men’s Singles first round and managed to overpower his Brice Leverdez of France in a tight fashion at the Yonex Japan Open 2012 at Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, September 19.
The Higher ranked Tien Minh, who is World Number 14 and eighth seeded player in Men’s Singles main draw in the tournament, worked really hard to overpower his in-form French opponent and won the battle with a narrow margin.
Eight seeded Vietnamese had to employ all of his reserves to prove his mettle on court. He managed to end up this Men’s Singles battle in a thrilling fashion in straight games by taking 38 minutes on court.
In the meanwhile, Brice Leverdez also put up strong show by playing flawless badminton in both games but he failed to prove his worth in the ending points and eventually lost to his Vietnamese rival with a respectable score on the board.
It was fantastic battle in opening set of the match when both players pushed each other in all areas of the court and remained toe-to-toe until the score reached at 5-5.
Tien Minh lost his focus at this stage as he committed many un-forced errors and remained struggling until the one-minute break when he was lagging behind at 6-11 on the board.
After the interval, the higher ranked Vietnamese shuttler showed his aggressive by increasing his speed in all areas and filled the gap scoring five consecutive points.
Both shuttlers played smart game at this stage and remained close until 19-19 when Tien Minh played a few impressive shots and took the set with a 21-19 score on the board.
The second game was a little different when Tien Minh showed his brilliance from the opening points and remained successful in taking an 11-6 lead until the break.
However, Vietnamese could not maintain his upper hand as Leverdez played better badminton and levelled the score at 13-13.
Tien Minh changed his tactics at this stage and managed to win the set with a tight margin of 21-19.
The Vietnamese shuttler emerged as the winner in this straight-set contest in just 38 minutes with a 21-19 and 21-19 margin on the board.
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