Well, as I half expected, Gao Fangjie was fully tested by the top Viet WS, the up-and-comer, Nguyen Thuy Linh, who is the same age as her, 24. Not surprising GFJ lost, this being their very first meeting.
On the whole, Nguyen TL played better than GFJ's Japanese opponents in the previous two tournaments, whether in attack or defence, and that put more pressure on GFJ to stay in the rallies, hence mistakes , both forced and unforced errors crept in. In fact, NTL was as proactive, if not more so , than GFJ, going on the offensive, injecting pace now and then and seizing the initiative as much as possible to minimize her tall attacking opponent from dictating the rallies, and it worked in G1 and the decider, not G2 which she lost while showing some signs of fatigue.
GFJ's advantage over most of her opponents so far is her height and reach at 1.78m and her power smash, which she's able to employ to good effect - I won't say maximum effect yet as she hasn't faced any really strong top players to date. Maybe, NTL came better prepared than GFJ's earlier opponents , having got wind of her back-to-back title wins in Indonesia, and probably studied her game with her coaches, one of whom looked Indonesian to me.
Personally, I'm not too worried about this defeat of GFJ's; after all, it's her third consecutive tournaments in an as many weeks, the first two going the full distance, which she won. And in this third event in the quarterfinals, she didn't show much fatigue, which is a good indication her fitness level is not bad.
It's still early days yet for GFJ to reach her former best pre-injury. On a positive note, such a defeat might do her more good than harm as it exposed her current weaknesses, vulnerabilities and shortcomings so that she knows what to work on and how much harder. I believe, as long as she has the self- motivation, drive and determination to make a successful comeback coupled with the right attitude on and off court, such as self-discipline and, most important, mental strength, it will certainly not be in vain. Time will tell.