Zi Liang Derek Wong reserves his place in Men’s Singles semi-final of the Russian Open Grand Prix
Singapore’s Zi Liang Derek Wong reserved his place in the Men’s Singles semi-final after beating Qiao Bin of China, in the quarter-final of the 2011 Russian Open Grand Prix, in Russia, on Friday, July 1.
The fourth seed, Derek Wong, who is currently place at Number 52 in the Men’s Singles world rankings, delivered a superb performance as he defeated talented shuttler from China, Qiao Bin. The Singaporean had to work really hard to beat the Chinese in a close
rubber-set match, which took 60 minutes of quality play from both shuttlers.
Derek Wong was playing a little slow in the opening game of the match, whereas, the Chinese was quite quick in his movement around the court. The Singaporean made many errors by playing hasty strokes against the Chinese, who was playing with great temperament.
Derek Wong had no answer to the aggressive game of his opponent, who was leading at 8-11, in the first-half of the opening set.
After the one-minute break, Derek Wong tried his best to increase his pace and minimise the deficit in the first game, but he failed to do that as the Chinese was not leaving any space for his rival. The Singaporean lost the first game by a five-point margin
of 16-21, in 21 minutes.
Wong started to employ variations in his strokes to leave his challenger guessing that where the bird will land. His technique worked well and slowed down the movement of the Chinese, who lost his control over the pace of the game. The Singaporean maintained
his grip on the game and won it by a 21-15 margin, in 19 minutes.
The third game was very tight in the first-half, where both players demonstrated a game of the highest class. However, as the game progressed, Derek Wong started to dominate the set by playing to his maximum potential.
Derek Wong clinched the match by winning the third game in 20 minutes, with a 21-15 score on the board. The match finished-off in 60 minutes with a 16-21, 21-15 and 21-15 margin.
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