Vietnam’s badminton ace Nguyen Tien Minh Friday beat Jan Jorgensen of Denmark in the Malaysia Open Super Series quarterfinals to set up a clash with world number one Malaysian Lee Chong Wei.
The 10th-ranked Minh, the only Vietnamese player to enter the world top 100, did not have it easy, but proved superior at important moments to prevail over the ninth-ranked Dane 21-17, 22-20.
Early in the first set, Jorgensen was ahead, but at 10-7, Minh scored four consecutive points to make it 11-10 and was in the lead all the way till he took it 21-17.
In the second set, Minh used a lot of smashes and was in the lead most of the game. Yet when Minh was leading 20-14 and needed only one more point to win the match, Jorgensen scored six consecutive points to be on equal terms at 20-20.
At the decisive moment, Minh managed to step up his game and book a semifinal clash with Lee Chong Wei, who beat third-ranked Chinese Chen Jin 2-1.
Minh’s victory is likely to see him inch up further in the world’s men’s singles rankings again.
Source: Thanh Nien