Besides unforced errors, esp at crucial moments, she also lost out on experience or lack thereof. Overall, her game has risen another level, in G2 I actually thought she might equalize but her simple mistakes and relative inexperience were costly. Nevertheless, she is yet another young, gifted WS on the horizon that CBA can place hopes on for the rejuvenation of CHN WS. Way to go, Chen Xiaoxin ! OTOH, Gao Fangjie, whom I also thought highly of, after taking out P V Sindhu, didn't live up to my expectation against Aya Ohori. Zhang Ning once criticised and warned her against letting success gets into her head, such as when she defeated both Sindhu and Marin at the China Open last year. I hope that isn't the case this time as she played an apparently unfocused and error-prone game with Ohori whom I expected her to beat. Whatever, GFJ has to work on her consistency, stay focused and learn to read her opponent's game better.
At the China Open, R1, Chen Xiaoxin lost narrowly to Gregoria Mariska, 21-12, 19-21, 21-23. Although I'm all for Chen Xiaoxin playing a very attacking game, it suits her very much which I agree with RedShuttle's opinion, I somehow think CXX is still too impatient,as usual, eager to finish off the rally, always going for winners, playing with tight margins, hence more prone to errors. I mean, at her young age of 20, born 24th April 1998, she is clearly not that skillful, mature and experienced yet to be able to play to a (reasonably) high degree of consistency and accuracy most of the time, as such I believe she should learn to construct her rallies more and better while waiting for the right opportunity to go on the attack. Then as time goes by and she gets better and better, she can with confidence play a more fast-paced, aggressive game according to her ability and form.
Yup, I agree that CXX should be more patient on court. As Coach Luo YiGang told her during last week's match with TZY: "you have speed. There is no need to be afraid of her". CXX has speed. She can retrieve a lot of shots. CXX can afford to get into longer rally situations before delivering the final blow. In this match against GMT, CXX was down two match points at 18:20 in the final game. She won two longer rallies to pull even at 20. But then CXX made two quick mistakes after that to lose the match. It's good that Korea Open is just days away. Let's see whether CXX will have learnt her lessons.
Chen Xiaoxin just lost to Tai Tzu Ying in R2 of the SGP Open today by the score of 21-15, 21-18. Too bad, no livestream available on Ct 4 to watch the proceedings. You might be surprised to know, this is her third meeting and she actually won their second encounter, beating TTY in two straight sets, 21-18 and 21-14, last September 2018 at Japan Open, after her first defeat to her in three sets, 9-21, 19-21, 16-21, at the French Open 2017. This year alone, CXX has also scalped the likes of Intanon Ratchanok and Nozomi Okuhara. Personally, I like her game and her on-court demeanour, have been keeping tabs on her and hope to see her make a breakthrough one day, the sooner the better.
Yes, too bad that we can't see what happened. At this point, CXX will have trouble playing Top 6 players. Losing to TZY is no big deal. Of her recent losses, two were due to retirements. The loss to Li XueRui was not good but may also be due to the injury related to those retirements. The really bad loss was the one to Line Kjaersfeidt. Had she pulled through and went on to win a title, that should give her some confidence to build on. As such, she is still in a battle with her confidence and her game management. From what I can recall, CXX's main problem is still her stability or the lack of. She tends to give points away in inopportune times. That's a killer when playing steady players whom CXX has a good chance to beat, like RI. CXX has a relatively easy draw at the New Zealand Open. That will be the big test for her.
@RedShuttle @Justin L @antssantss Now she has no ranking points. Will we see her again in a international tournament?
Unfortunately, Chen Xiaoxin was badly injured. She participated in the National Games last year in the team competition. She could hardly walk after her match. At this point, the only option for Chen Xiaoxin is to take care of herself physically. If she can recover to the point to play again, it will be a bonus. Badminton is very popular in China. She can make a good living by teaching badminton, if that's her choice. Wish her the best!
