By Understanding Luong
Vietnam’s number one female badminton player Nguyen Thuy Linh ended her run at the 2023 China Masters after losing to South Korea’s Kim Ga-eun in the quarterfinals.
Nguyen Thuy Linh plays in the China Masters quarterfinal on Nov. 24, 2023. Photo by Badminton World Federation
World number 15 Kim won two easy matches to reach the quarterfinals, including a 2-0 victory over world number 16 Aya Ohori of Japan.
With her aggressive style, the South Korean player had a strong start against Linh and led 6-2 early on.
After that, Linh regained her momentum and improved her defense, making difficult returns that confused Kim.
At one point Linh scored seven consecutive points to take the lead 9-6. Linh then had a 14-10 lead but ran out of breath, missed many shots and lost her advantage. When the score was 19-19, Linh’s decisive strike went out and Kim made no mistake to seal the first-set win.
In the second set, Kim completely dominated by controlling all the rhythm. Linh lost her stamina and could no longer keep up with Kim’s pace. After a 5-5 tie, the South Korean player took a streak of five points, then two streaks of four points to claim the 21-10 victory and a 2-0 win overall.
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Despite the defeat, Linh still left her mark by even reaching the quarterfinals of a Super 750 tournament for the first time. She was also credited with the most shocking victory so far in the tournament after eliminating world number five Carolina Marin of Spain in the first round.
The result helped Linh secure a place in the world’s top 20. The 26-year-old will receive an additional 6,050 points and a bonus of $4,675.
Linh is currently the number one female tennis player in Vietnam, number six in Southeast Asia, and number 17 in Asia.
On the rankings for 2024 Paris Olympics qualification, Linh is currently ranked 15th and is likely to qualify if she maintains her form.
2023-11-25 07:00:30
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