Nguyen Thuy Linh, Vietnam's number one female badminton player, defeated Indonesia's top player and world number eight Gregoria Mariska Tunjung at the 2023 China Open on Tuesday.
Tunjung is 18 places higher than Linh on the world rankings. Last month, she advanced to the quarter-finals of the World Championships in Denmark where she lost to world number two Akane Yamaguchi of Japan. Meanwhile, Linh was eliminated from the first round.
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Vietnam's number one female badminton player Nguyen Thuy Linh. |
However, Tunjung could not keep her form when she faced Linh in Changzhou, China on Monday morning. She showed signs of fatigue and made many mistakes, which gave Linh the edge.
In the first set, Linh led 16-8 and although Tunjung tried to narrow the gap down to three points, a mistake stopped her momentum and Linh went on to win 21-15.
Tunjung continued to make errors in the second set while Linh stayed sharp and quick with her movements. When the score was 8-6, Linh scored seven consecutive points, with nearly half of them being Tunjung's failed shots. The Indonesian player tried to make a comeback with five straight points, but Linh still won 21-14 and claimed the 2-0 victory overall.
Linh will face world number nine Han Yue in the second round. The Chinese player defeated world number 12 Pornpaweee Chochuwong of Thailand in the first round.
In two encounters with Han, Linh lost both, at the 2021 World Championships and the 2019 Thailand Open.
After getting eliminated early at the 2023 World Championships, Linh returned to Vietnam and won the national championship.
The 2023 China Open, taking place September 5-10, is part of the World Tour Super 1000, which can help Linh accumulate more points to aim for Olympic Paris qualification next year.
Source: VnExpress
