Red-hot Ratchanok into semis again

By Lerpong Amsa-ngiam 
The Nation

 

 

World No 4 Ratchanok Intanon vanquished world No 7 Nozomi Okuhara of Japan 21-17 21-10 in the Daihatsu Indonesia Masters to make it back-to-back semi-finals in the BWF World Tour Super 500 yesterday.

 

The Thai ace, who has been in peak form and beat the World No 1 and No 2 on the way to winning the Super 500 level in Malaysia on Sunday, has great memories of this tournament – she first won it eight years ago when she was only 15 years old.

 

Ratchanok got off to a great start, using her brilliant shot selection to build a convincing 7-2 lead but her Japanese opponent fought back cleverly to level at 7-7 and went on to take a lead at 11-9.

 

After the break, Ratchanok rallied to level at 17-17 and never looked back. She then employed a series of fierce smashes to earn four straight points and take the opening game in 19 minutes.

 

In the second game, the Thai enjoyed a string of unforced errors from her opponent to jump to a quick lead at 11-6. As play resumed after the intermission, Okuhara’s situation never improved as she lost most of the rallies due to her mistakes.

 

The Thai easily set up a match point at 20-10 by applying a well-disguised drop shot before she smashed it out to force an error from the Japanese on her first match point. 

 

"I made some mistakes in the first game but I managed to raise my level and won the match. I will try hard to reach the final again," said Ratchanok.

 

The win saw her carry a 4-4 head-to-head record with the Japanese.

 

Up next for Ratchanok is India’s world No 12 Saina Nehwal, who knocked out compatriot and world No 2 Sindhu Pusarla 21-13 21-19.

 

The Indian No 2, also a former world No 1 like Ratchanok, will go into the semi-final with a 8-5 head-to-head advantage.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/sports/30337235

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-01-27

The headline sounds quite lewd.

Go girl!!