World Tour Finals: Indonesians Prevail in Marathon
They’ve now played each other thrice in 11 days. On each occasion it has been a test of physical and mental endurance; each match has gone an average 75 minutes.
· DEV SUKUMAR
“This is women’s doubles,” said Greysia Polii, almost too tired to talk after she and Apriyani Rahayu featured in a 94-minute marathon against Lee So Hee and Shin Seung Chan which the Indonesians won 21-17 22-24 21-15.
They have played each other before the Asian Leg too. So far, four of their seven matches have been long and hard three-game battles, primarily because both pairs are solid in defence, make few errors, and are somewhat equally matched when it comes to attacking play.
The last two times they met, it was the semifinals stage of the YONEX Thailand Open and the TOYOTA Thailand Open. Today it was the opening Group A match at the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2020, and as expected, there was nothing each pair could do to grab quick points. Every seemingly winning shot was returned; smashes cleared to the deep, from where the attackers had to start all over again.