Nguyen Tien Minh, Vietnam’s top badminton player, had a 2-0 win against a Japanese rival in the semifinal round of the 2012 Yonex Australian Open Grand Prix Gold, afternoon of April 7.
Tien Minh defeated Sho Sasaki 21-19 and 21-11, who earlier had beaten Minh 3 times in the recent 5 matches, to earn a place in the final game.
During the 38-minute game, Minh led Sasaki 5 points, 12-7, before falling back to 18-19 but finally securing 21-19 victory in the first set. Minh easily defeated the Japanese rival 21-11 in the second match.
This is the first time in 2012 that Minh has entered the final round in an international badminton tournament.
Minh, the world number 12, will take on the winner of the second semifinal round, to be between Jin Chen of China, world number 5, and Simon Santoso of Indonesia, world number 9, in the finals.
