Compact And Full Of Energy, Hafiz/Gloria Still Run Aground In The Top 8 Of Indonesia Masters

Hafiz/Gloria (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The game full of cohesiveness and energy displayed by the national mixed doubles Hafiz Faizal/Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja had to end in the quarter-finals of the Indonesia Masters 2021 after being defeated by Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino, Friday.

Launching Antara, the host pair were eliminated after playing a tiring rubber game, with a final score of 21-16, 17-21, 9-21.

The first game was filled with intense competition between two pairs and there was a tense pursuit of points on the main court. Yuta/Arisa, who was on the fourth seed, actually had a hard time breaking into Hafiz/Gloria's defense even though they had struggled to play sharp drop shots.

Yuta's role, who was the executor of smash and drop shots, became unbalanced when Arisa, who was guarding the front zone, couldn't block the return of Hafiz/Gloria. Both also seemed to lose the tempo of the game while trying to secure the advantage after the first interval.

Hafiz/Gloria who had won 14-11 made Yuta/Arisa's style of play uncontrollable and rushed to kill the opponent. As a result, their return backfired because they often hit the net or left the field.

Starting the second game, Indonesia trailed 3-5 after Yuta/Arisa corrected the defense and increased the accuracy of returns. This time, the Japanese pair played more patiently and rallied to reduce batting errors.

The dominance is still held by Yuta / Arisa until the first interval is over. Meanwhile, Hafiz/Gloria still sticks to the strategy as before by playing patiently and taking advantage of the opponent's return to attack back.

Despite trying to catch up, Yuta/Arisa's game was more solid in the second game and finally secured a winning score of 21-17 and encouraged the rubber game to be played.

In the third game, Hafiz/Gloria's energy has been drained even though the two of them still maintain cohesiveness and communication. In this phase, energy security is the capital of Japan's advantage to seize the advantage, while the Indonesian pair must struggle to withstand the opponent's attack.

The energy factor was the decisive factor for Yuta/Arisa's victory so that they had the right to advance to the semifinals, while Hafiz/Gloria who was the last representative in the mixed doubles had to fall and admit their opponent's superiority after 68 minutes of fighting.