Minh was expected to face a huge challenge against Sasaki as the Vietnamese player was recently defeated by him 2-0 at the US Open Grand Prix 2011.

He outplayed Sasaki in the first set and finished at 21-13 then easily led 19-13 in the first half of the final match.

Sasaki gradually won four successive points to narrow the gap but Minh gained a valuable point from his rival’s mistake and won the match 21-17.