Taiwanese badminton world No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying overcame a major hurdle when she defeated China’s Sun Yu in straight sets at the Dubai World Superseries Finals yesterday.
Tai won 21-19, 21-19 in the semi-finals of the Badminton World Federation event.
Tai consolidated her world No. 1 ranking in women’s singles and took her game to a higher level with her first victory against Sun, who is China’s top player.
Photo provided by BadmintonPhoto.com
It was sweet revenge for Tai, who has lost four times to Sun in past competitions, while points she accumulated for the win will ensure the Kaohsiung native retains her No. 1 status through to the end of the year.
Tai advanced to today’s championship final, where she faces the winner of the other semi-final match between Sung Ji-hyun of South Korea and P.V. Sindhu of India.
That match was to begin shortly after press time last night.
If Tai wins the championship final, she is to receive US$75,000 in prize money.
At the Hamdan Sports Complex last night, Tai won the first set, despite not putting together a string of points greater than three. However, the first set had only one game point.
In the second set Tai needed two game points, but put together a string of five consecutive points.
It took Tai 50 minutes to get past her tenacious Chinese opponent, with Sun’s 1.83m frame giving her a 20cm height advantage. Sun matched Tai point for point throughout a hard-fought battle.
Tai on Thursday breezed through her Group A match to reach the semi-finals, beating Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand in straight sets, 21-12, 21-14, in 32 minutes.
Tai cruised through the first set with relative ease, controlling the tempo of the game throughout.
Despite rallying in the second, Ratchanok was unable to break Tai’s rhythm and she eventually pulled away in the second half of the set.
The Superseries Finals concludes today in the United Arab Emirates, where the world’s top badminton players are competing for total prize money of US$1 million.
Tai won the singles title at the Hong Kong Open Badminton Championships last month, defeating Sindhu in two sets in the final.
She became the federation’s official world No. 1 female player this month.
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
EL CLASSICO: La Liga champions Real Madrid would face Barcelona in the Super Cup final tomorrow. Barça secured their final spot after a 2-0 win over Bilbao on Wednesday Real Madrid would chase a record-equaling 14th Spanish Super Cup title in the final against Barcelona after second-half goals by Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo helped them to a 3-0 win over Mallorca in the semi-finals on Thursday. England midfielder Bellingham broke the deadlock after the hour mark with a low shot into the middle of the goal before Mallorca defender Martin Valjent’s own goal doubled the lead in stoppage time followed by a Rodrygo strike from close range. Spanish champions Real are to play Barcelona for the trophy tomorrow after goals by Gavi and Lamine Yamal earned Barça a 2-0 win over
RSS