Nguyen Tien Minh. — Photo tuoitre.vn

HCM CITY  (VNS) — Another dominant performance and another straight-set win sent top Vietnamese badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh to the third round of the Yonex Sunrise Viet Nam GP Open.

Third-seeded Minh yesterday took 41 minutes to beat unseeded Mahbub Thomi Azizan of Indonesia, 21-17, 21-15, in their first meeting at an international tournament.

Opting to taking an aggressive stance in the match, Minh began strongly and attacked with powerful smashes. His game plan worked as the he quickly took a commanding lead, with the margin never falling below three points, before finishing the set at 21-17.

The four-time champion built an even bigger lead early in the second set as he raced to 5-0, then 14-8, then 18-11, though Azizan forced Minh into some long rallies, which drew rounds of applause from supporters.

The Indonesian managed to reduce the deficit to 19-15, but unsuccessful smashes and long shuttles killed him off as Minh claimed the set, 21-15.

Minh will next Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub of Malaysia today.

Organisers had to move the games to Tan Binh Indoor Gymnasiu after a part of the ceiling of Phan Dinh Phung Indoor Gymnasium, the tournament venue since 2008, crumbled during a badminton match. Nobody was hurt.

The incident sparked changes in schedule and forced some players to play their matches later in the day. Organisers had to send buses to move players from their hotels, which are just a few minutes walk from the original venue, to the new venue.

Players who competed on Tuesday night at the former venue expressed sympathy for the organisers and said the change of venue had not caused any problems.

"I think it was beyond the organisers' control, so we have to accept the cha nge. But everything had been handled well, and we didn't have any problems concerning the schedule as well as transportation," said Indian player Ajay Jayaram, who has competed in previous tournaments.

"Everything is OK and the facility is good," he added. Jayaram also entered the third round after overcoming Hsuan Yi Hsueh of Chinese Taipei 21-15, 21-18.

Young player Tan Chee Thean, who was not at the stadium on Tuesday night and is competing in the event for the first time, said the change of stadium did not worry him because everything was under control and he has yet to play a match.

Vietnamese young hopeful Pham Cao Cuong wasted two match points to allow Hashiru Shimono of Japan to stage a come-from-behind victory, 21-14, 14-21, 12-21.

Another hopeful, Pham Hoang Nam, also failed to qualify as he lost to Kean Yew Loh of Singapore in the first round. — VNS