Ratchanok cruises her way to quarter-finals of Singapore Open
Thai sensation Ratchanok Intanon’s quest for winning her fourth major of the year and climbing up to the top spot in the BWF world ranking is likely to be a dream come true when the 2013 world champion and the current Asian winner successfully cleared her
Ratchanok has already landed three major titles this year comprising the Thailand Masters Grand Prix Gold, the India Open World Superseries and the Malaysia Open World Superseries Premier. She was expected to move to the second spot of the world ranking on Thursday when the BWF was due to update its weekly world ranking for all players every Thursday. However, at press time, she remains world No.4.
Ratchanok got off to a brilliant start in the top-flight Singapore Open with a scintillating 21-14 21-10 win over Hong Kong’s Cheung Ngan Yi in the first round on Wednesday. In her second-round clash against Taiwanese Hsu Ya Ching on Thursday, it turned out to be a closely-contested match from the beginning when Hsu fought hard to catch up with Ratchanok, but with the greater experience and form, the Thai ace proved her talent to take the hard-fought first game 21-19.
The second game was a bit easier when Ratchanok took command from the start and went on her powerful smashes and deceptive drop shots to win the game 21-17 and the match.
In Friday’s quarter-finals, Ratchanok is due to go up against either fifth seeded Wang Yihan from China or compatriot Porntip Buranaprasertsuk. The match between Wang and Porntip was due to take place later at around 5.10pm Bkk time on Thursday. Ratchanok has already beaten formidable Wang in the Malaysia Open, her first time in 13 matches contested among them.
Meanwhile, Nichaon Jindapol went down fighting to world No.1, top seed and successive two-time world champion Carolina Marin from Spain 21-19 21-15.
