Tontowi Ahmad, Liliyana Natsir ensure their presence in pre quarter-finals of 2012 French Open
Mixed Doubles partners Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir showed superb coordination and cast out Baptiste Careme-Audrey Fontaine in the opening round of Yonex French Badminton Open on October 24, 2012.
The prime Indonesian team spent 29 minutes on the court before ending this encounter with 21-15 and 21-17 margin.
World Number four Tontowi-Liliyana proved themselves superior in both games and sealed a splendid straight-set win.
Meanwhile, the native shuttlers Baptiste and Audrey disappointed their supporters by putting a below par performance in local badminton arena of Paris.
The French campaigners looked completely off colour in the first set as they lost this crucial segment of the showdown with a huge deficit of seven points.
In first half of the set, they displayed a decent fighting spirit and remained close to their rivals until 9-9.
However, few back-to-back mistakes brought them down and allowed the twosome of Tontowi-Liliyana to place a respectable total of 11-9.
The Indonesian duo played with similar precision after the mid-game break and completely dominated overall pace of the rallies.
They strengthened their grip by piling up an indomitable figure of 14 and then doubled the impact by gathering few valuable points in a row.
Tontowi and Liliyana mounted pressure with 18-14 and capitalised this advantage to sweep the table with an overwhelming margin of 21-15.
The second set, which proved the decider later, was filled with great sensation as it kept swinging between both contenders until the half time but dramatically turned into a one-sided affair after the break.
In the beginning, the twosome of Tontowi-Liliyana tipped the scale in their favour with 7-2 total but then the French shuttlers counter-balanced the situation with a striking knock.
Baptiste and Audrey prevailed in seven uninterrupted rallies and alarmed their higher ranked competitors by establishing a notable lead before the mid-game break.
The second half completely belonged to the Indonesians players as they reinstated their dominance in third quarter of the set and then stole the limelight with a winning score of 21-17.
Tontowi and Liliyana are now scheduled to meet Patiphat Chalardchaleam-Savitree Amitrapai of Thailand in pre quarter-finals of this Super Series.
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