The Spanish Carolina Marín has begun her participation in the finals of the badminton world circuit, which are held in Hangzhou (China), with a victory over the American Beiwen Zhang in two sets (21-18 and 21-10).
The player from Huelva, Olympic gold in Rio 2016, three-time world champion and six-time European champion, needed just 35 minutes to add her first victory within group A and the eighth in ten meetings with the North American.
In the first round she knew how to stop the inspired start of the American (3-9 and 5-10), ninth in the world ranking, to little by little find her game and, after tying at 14, she took command. Although her rival forced the score to be even at 18, three consecutive points gave her the set 21-18.
Zhang seemed not to give up. She achieved the first two points in the second game, but Carolina Marín reacted with a run of 9-0 (9-2), putting her on track for victory.
The Spanish player will face the Chinese Han Yue this Thursday in her second match, and will close the group stage against the also local Yu Fei Chen. The best two in each group will qualify for the semifinals.
