Sayaka Takahashi upsets Li Xuerui in Women’s Singles quarter-final at German Open 2013

Japan’s upcoming shuttler Sayaka Takahashi grabbed the attention of the crowd as she reached into Women’s Singles semi-final after creating an upset by beating the top seeded Li Xuerui in quarter-final clash at Yonex German Open 2013 in Germany, on Friday, March 1.

The lofty Sayaka, who is an un-seeded player in Women’s Singles main draw of the tournament, continued playing tremendous badminton and got the best victory of her professional career by defeating the ruling World Number One and Olympic Champion Xuerui in a thrilling contest.

Japanese shuttler was played impressive badminton throughout this quarter-final clash and she registered her first victory over the top seeded Chinese rival in a hard-fought rubber set contest with a margin of 17-21, 21-12 and 21-17 in 54 minutes.

On the other hand, the higher ranked Xuerui had to work extra hard to win the opening set but she failed to maintain her rhythm in the following both games and lost this rubber-set contest to an un-seeded challenger.

In the opening game, Sayaka played impressive badminton and remained successful in setting up an early lead. However, she failed to stop her challenger from catching up until the one-minute break.

After the mid-game interval, Sayaka could not stop her challenger from staying ahead on the score board. She lost the first game with a respectable score of 17-21.

In the second game, Sayaka showed her brilliance in the arena as she geared up her speed in all areas of the court and remained successful in setting up a reasonable lead until the break.

After the mid-game interval, Japanese lady stayed in complete command of rallies and did not spare any chance for her rival to catch up at any stage. She easily finished of the second game with a staggering difference of 21-12 and made the score levelled by 1-1.

In the deciding game, both ladies played to their maximum potential and it was Xuerui who remained successful in setting up a reasonable lead of 11-8 until the mid-game interval.

However, Sayaka changed her tactics after the break and worked really hard that enabled her to make the score levelled. She remained confident in her attacking play and managed to bag the set with a decent margin of 21-17 and sealed off a sensational victory against the top seeded Chinese rival.

In the semi-final, the talented Sayaka will take on third seeded local shuttler Juliane Schenk who won her quarter-final in straight games against Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying.

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Posted by Muhammad Ahmad Nazir on Mar 2 2013. Filed under Sports, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.