Indonesia Masters 2022: Gregoria Mariska Reach Round Of 16 After Extending Domination Over Thailand Representative

JAKARTA – Gregoria Mariska Tunjung entered the second round of the Indonesia Masters 2022 after defeating her Thai opponent Phittayaporn Chaiwan. The athlete from Wonogiri defeated his opponent by winning straight games 21-14 and 21-15 at Istora, Jakarta, on Wednesday, June 8.

"Thank God today I was able to play the way I wanted to start from the beginning", the 22-year-old said in a press conference after the match.

After getting resistance in four points at the beginning of the first game, Gregoria began to be impressive. The 2017 junior world champion then led his opponent 11-5 at the interval.

After the break, Gregoria continued to score point by point and easily reached the match point of 20-12.

Having failed in two attempts, Gregoria finally managed to come out victorious with a score of 21-14 after his opponent made an inaccurate serve.

Fierce resistance from Thailand's representatives then occurred in the second game forcing Gregoria not to be free to take the lead. Gregoria was even forced to fall behind in the 10-11 interval.

Gregoria then only pressed his opponent after the position was even, 12-12. After the draw position, Phittayaporn could not catch up to his opponent's points again until he gave up.

"A few times he made mistakes in the first game, but in the second game he was more efficient and didn't make as many mistakes as in the first game", said Gregoria.

This defeat extends Phittayaporn's bad record against Gregoria. From a total of four meetings between them, the Thai representative did not win once.

Previously, Gregoria and Phittayaporn were recorded to have met at the Jaya Raya Indonesia Junior International Challenge 2015, Thailand Open 2015, and the Junior International Challenge in 2017.

Gregoria will next face the winner from Line Christophersen against Pusarla V. Sindhu.