Zulfadli and Daren clear their first hurdles in Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold
The Malaysian shuttlers Zulfadli Zulkiffli and Daren Liew cleared their first hurdle and surged into the second round of the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold on March 13, 2012.
The Men’s singles experts Zulfadli and Daren overpowered Yuhan Tan and Brice Leverdez respectively in their opening encounters.
Both shuttlers are trying to prove their worth in absence of their compatriots Lee Chong Wei, Hafiz Hashim and Arif Abdul Latif as they had a perfect start in the Swiss Open.
The Junior World and Asian Champion Zulfadli set the foundation by beating the Belgian rival with a notable 2-0 lead.
The World Number 47 Yuhan Tan got pale in front of the youngster and surrendered after resisting for 35 minutes.
The Malaysian lad dazzled his opponent with his lustrous performance and clinched first match point by ticking final margin of 21-14 on score cards. Zulfadli throughout remained on the charging end and he kept opponent shuttler busy in just returning his
powerful strokes.
The first set win gave him a real boost and he hammered Yuhan Tan with even more convincing margin of 21-13 in the second set.
These favourable results gave Zulfadli the permit to race into next round and reserved a ticket home for his rival Yuhan Tan.
Meanwhile, his compatriot Daren Liew also joined the party by claiming the victory against French competitor Brice Leverdez in a first round match.
Daren, who had a splendid run in All-England last week, continued his top form and overshadowed his rival with a straight-set victory.
The first half of 39-minute tussle moved to and fro as both contenders stretched hard to excel on the score board but final 22-20 score position of first set fetched an opening match point for Daren Liew.
It was smooth sailing for Daren in second set as he blew away his challenger with great ease. He sealed his 2-0 victory by scoring a significant margin of 21-13 on the board.
Both Malaysians will start their expedition now in second round on March 14 where Daren is up against Jen Hao Hsu of Chinese Taipei and Zulfadli will lock horns with Stilian Makarski from Bulgaria.
Tags: