Tien Minh enters the quarterfinals of the US Open

On July 21 (Vietnam time), Nguyen Tien Minh came from behind to win 2-1 against Spanish world No. 35 Pablo Abian in the third round of the men's singles at the 2017 US Open Badminton Tournament in California (USA).

Nguyen Tien Minh won the right to enter the quarterfinals of the 2017 US Open Badminton Tournament. Photo: TP

Just a few hours before this match, Tien Minh defeated his Indian opponent, world No. 102 Harsheel Dani, 2-0 (27-25, 21-9) in the second round. This is a big disadvantage for a 34-year-old player like Tien Minh.

But Tien Minh is very familiar with the playing style of his opponent in the third round, Pablo Abian. When he was at the peak of his form, Tien Minh won all four times he faced the Spanish player. But now, Tien Minh has dropped to 66th in the world while Pablo Abian is 35th in the world.

Therefore, Tien Minh had a difficult start when meeting Pablo Abian again. In the first set, Tien Minh quickly took the lead 7-3 but let his opponent catch him 7-7. After that, the two players continued to fight fiercely until the score was 19-18 in favor of Tien Minh. At this moment, Pablo Abian scored 3 points in a row to win 21-19.

The effort helped Tien Minh dominate the second set and win by a close score of 21-19, forcing the match into a third set. In this decisive set, the experience and bravery of the former world No. 5 player helped Tien Minh win by a margin of 21-11, completing a 2-1 comeback win over Pablo Abian.

Tien Minh's opponent in the quarterfinals is Korean tennis player Jeon Hyeok Jin. Jeon Hyeok Jin is ranked 40th in the world and beat Tien Minh at the 2016 Australian Open.

In the men's doubles, Do Tuan Duc and Pham Hong Nam won 2-0 (22-20, 21-15) against Scottish pair Martin Campbell and Patrick Machugh in the second round. In the quarterfinals, Tuan Duc and Hong Nam will meet the number 1 seeds from Taiwan, Lu Ching Yao and Yang Po Han.

According to TTO