Go all the way: Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska tries to retrieve a shot from China’s He Bingjiao as she falls to her knees.
MALAYSIA is a lucky place for Indonesia’s rising women’s singles star Gregoria Mariska.
Just six months after recording a stunning win over Japan’s world No. 1 Akane Yamaguchi in the opening round at the Malaysian Open, world No. 15 Gregoria sent China’s world No. 5 He Bingjiao packing at the Axiata Arena in this edition of the tournament.
The Indonesian needed only 37 minutes to claim an impressive 21-11, 21-17 victory over the Chinese yesterday.
It was Gregoria’s first win over Bingjiao in her fourth attempts.
On her second upset win in the country, Gregoria said: “Malaysia might be my lucky ground.
“There are many Indonesian fans here and their support pushed me to play well.
“My opponent did not control the match well and I took advantage of this. Perhaps she was feeling the pressure.
“I’m very happy to get my first win over her but I don’t want to be satisfied with this and want to keep performing well,” said Gregoria.
The 23-year-old has been rising up the ranks after showing steady improvement last year.
She finished runner-up in the Australian Open and reached the semi-finals of the Hylo Open and Malaysian Masters.
On her targets after this, Gregoria said: “I’m using my performances last year as a motivation to get even better after this. I really want to win my first World Tour title this year.
“So far, I’ve not managed to be consistent throughout a tournament and I aim to improve on this.
“I also hope to break into the top 10 in the world by the end of the year.
In the second round tomorrow, Gregoria will play Taiwan’s world No. 23 Hsu Wen-chi.
Bingjiao admitted that she had lost to a better player.
“It wasn’t my best performance yesterday. Gregoria played very well.
“Anyway, I have to look forward and will use this as a lesson to do better in my next tournaments,” said Bingjiao.
