Popular home team won the WD by beating INA. Now for the MS. Wonder this 'unknown' Mustofa from INA is able to defeat 'veteran' Ajay IND.
Mustofa is 19 and ranked 200+. A giant killer so far against his compatriots. Ajay is even better when he brought down the top seed, OR.
After being semifinalist last year at their homeground GP, Muskens/Piek won the title this time. Ihsan sealed game 1, 11-10 and game 2 goes to Jayaram, 11-6.
Mustofa saved his own skin by surprisingly taking G4 11-1 to force a decider. Ajay was making all the mistakes. And now M is leading 3-1, when Ajay smashes X-ct to win his first point.
Based on this 11x5 scoring system, if you've a bad start, G1 is quickly over, one set down, and if you still haven't settled in, G2 will go just as quickly, and you're in deep ****, I mean trouble and all the abrupt stress buildup may render you unable to find your footing in time to get back into the match in the 3rd set do-or-die situation. The element of uncertainty increases considerably, what with the added 'lucky' points from your opponent, such as luck of the net cord and/or misjudgements at the back or sideline due to your not getting the feel of the drift right yet (not to mention the rare subjective service faults) and,before you know it, your opponent has rushed forward to the net ready for a quick-victory gleeful handshake. As somebody correctly pointed out, two sets of 11 pts is equivalent to one set of 21-pt which means you only have another 11 pts without any deuces available to save yourself from imminent defeat. Even if you managed somehow to equalize with two games apiece, your body and mind may sub-consciously want to take a breather and slow down a bit but,hell no, it's most certainly a luxury you can ill afford in the deciding 5th set of a short 11-pt straight to the finishing line. At least, in the 21-pt system, even when you're 5-11 down, there is possibly still a reasonable chance of a fightback. All in all, the 11x5 system makes the outcome too unpredictable and uncertain, and upsets perhaps more likely to the detriment of the players, I think. Wonder how the players here feel about it.
M is playing a dangerous rally game whereas A is attacking at every opportunity. M then suddenly smashed to regain the lead 8-7. Now A is a point away from taking the MS crown 10-8.
The pressure is more on Ajay. Unfortunately, Mustofa failed to capitalize on his healthy lead in the 3rd set.- sorry, I confused myself - I mean the 5th and final set.
Congo Ajay !!! After a long time some encouraging victory for him Keep it up sir you have to climb many spots in rankings
Ihsan Maulana Mustofa was leading 5-1 in the decider set when he made a series of errors to let Ajay Jayaram come back to lead 6-5 at the interval. The youngster was within inches away of his first title, leading again 8-7 at the crucial stage of the match, only to let Ajay win 3 pts in a row to make it 2 match-pts for the Indian. Ihsan only managed to save one of them and a net error ended his gallant fight. Ajay Jayaram took the crown, winning it 11-9 at the 5th set. Nevertheless, it has been a great tourney for Ihsan this week, beating the more fancied Jonatan Christie and his senior Andre Kurniawan Tedjono to reach the Final. INA's young MS players like Ihsan Maulana Mustofa, Anthony Ginting, Jonatan Christie, and Firman Abdul Kholik have certainly performed well in the past few months and INA's hope will be on them!
