Yonex Japan Open: Kazumasa Sakai beats Jan O Jorgensen in Men’s Singles first round
Japan’s talented player Kazumasa Sakai got inspiration from his home crowd and made his presence felt by playing at his best in Men’s Singles first round when he stunned the higher ranked Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark at the Yonex Japan Open 2012 at Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, September 19.
The impressive Kazumasa, who is an un-seeded player in Men’s Singles main draw in his home event, did not spare any chance and got advantage in the match every time when it mattered most at every crucial stage and easily stamped his mark over Jorgensen who was sixth seed in the tournament.
Kazumasa played with wonderful passion on court as he showed an incredible hard work and played fascinating strokes all the way to wrap up victory in straight games with a convincing margin by consuming just 39 minutes.
The World Number 11 Jorgensen, on the other hand, got surprised with the unexpected performance of his lower ranked local rival. He tried his best to play his normal badminton but failed to live up to expectations and bowed down to Kazumasa without taking any set.
In the first game, Kazumasa played with confidence and speed from the opening points of the contest and remained successful in giving a tough resistance to the sixth seeded Jorgensen who failed to grab even a small lead until the mid-game interval.
After the break, Kazumasa continued putting up strong show of top quality badminton by playing in the similar fashion. He made his Danish rival work hard for every point and remained close until the score reached at 22-22.
The Danish shuttler was playing under mounting pressure and he found no way out to get rid of his spirited Japanese rival.
In the meanwhile, Kazumasa showed impressive precision in his shots and managed to end up the set with a nail-biting 24-22 score on the board.
In the following set, it was Kazumasa’s show as he gave a severe treatment to Jorgensen by playing attacking and positive badminton and took an impressive 11-6 lead until the one-minute break.
Jorgensen could not play his normal game as he faced a tough opposition and failed to employ his powerful smashes in the right areas. He was in all sorts of trouble as his Japanese rival did not spare any room on court as he was moving incredibly fast in all corners.
After the mid-game interval, Kazumasa did not let Jorgensen to make the score levelled at any stage and finished up the game with a striking 21-16 margin on the board.
Kazumasa played best badminton of his professional career and delivered a great performance in first round encounter which earned him a spectacular victory against Jorgensen in just 39 minutes with a considerable margin of 24-22 and 21-16.
Tags: