Nguyen Thuy Linh beat world No. 8 at China Open 2023
Mariska Tunjung is the number one female tennis player in Indonesia and is currently ranked 8th in the world on the BWF table, 19 places ahead of Thuy Linh. In 2023, Tunjung had many good matches such as in the quarterfinals of the All England Open in March, when he only narrowly lost to world number 4 Chen Yu Fei of China 22-24 and 21-23. At the world championship in Denmark at the end of August, Thuy Linh was eliminated in the first round and Tunjung reached the quarterfinals, losing 16-21 and 18-21 to Japanese world number 2 Akane Yamaguchi.
However, the Indonesian tennis player could not keep that form when he faced Nguyen Thuy Linh in Changzhou, China this morning. Tunjung showed signs of fatigue and made many mistakes, opening up an easy match for Linh.
After drawing 4-4 in the first half, Thuy Linh gradually rose up with two consecutive four-point scores, thereby leading 16-8. Tunjung tried to close the gap to three points, but a missed shot caused her to miss the point. Thuy Linh took advantage of three points to win 21-15.
In the second half, Tunjung did not improve her errors, while Thuy Linh still moved flexibly. When the score was 8-6, Thuy Linh scored seven points in a row, half of which were errors from her opponent. Even though she let her opponent score five consecutive points after that, Thuy Linh still won the final 21-14.
In the second round, Thuy Linh will face world number 9 Han Yue. The host Chinese tennis player just won 21-19, 21-17 against Thai world number 12 Pornpawee Chochuwong. She is in the same generation in 1999 with Mariska Tunjung, who won the Asian Youth Championship in 2017, won the gold medal at the 2021 World Student Sports Festival.
In the two confrontations with Han Yue, Thuy Linh lost 0-2, in the first round of the 2021 world championship and the first round of the Thailand Open 2019.
After being eliminated early in the first round of the 2023 World Championship, Thuy Linh returned to Vietnam and flourished, winning the women's individual championship at the national badminton tournament. China Open 2023 belongs to the World Tour Super 1000 system to help players born in 1997 earn more points to compete for tickets to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
