Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen and Wang Tzu-wei yesterday defeated their respective opponents in the second round of the Toyota Thailand Open, setting them up to face each other today in the quarter-finals.
In an early match, world No. 12 Wang took 45 minutes to defeat Hong Kong’s Angus Ng Ka-long 21-13, 21-11.
Last week, the world No. 8 ousted Wang from the Yonex tournament before defeating Chou in the semi-finals.
Photo: courtesy of the Badminton Association Of Thailand via CNA
Chou, world No. 2, defeated France’s Brice Leverdez in 48 minutes 21-19, 21-16.
In other men’s singles matches, Indonesia’s fifth seed Anthony Ginting suffered an unexpected defeat to Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk-yiu, who moved into the quarter-finals with a 21-19, 13-21, 21-12 win.
Ginting was Indonesia’s last remaining hope after Jonatan Christie’s exit on Wednesday, but despite a fightback in the second game, the 20th-ranked Lee closed out the match.
“He played better than me,” said the 24-year-old Ginting, who reached the semi-finals of last week’s tournament, also held in the Thai capital. “When I tried to come back, Lee knew — he’s smart and he was in control.”
It was Ginting’s second loss to Lee, who upset the Indonesian in the final of the 2019 Hong Kong Open.
“I had beaten him in the Hong Kong Open final, so maybe I was a bit more comfortable against him,” Lee said.
Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen continued his quest for back-to-back titles when he dominated Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn 21-11, 21-13.
“He’s an upcoming player that I respect a lot, so I had to come with quite a high pace,” said Axelsen, who won last week’s first of two consecutive Thailand Opens.
In the men’s doubles, Taiwan’s world No. 7 duo of Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin overcame Canada’s Jason Anthony Ho-Shue and Nyl Yakura, winning 21-15, 21-5 in a brisk 25 minutes.
In the women’s singles, world No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying bested Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in just 33 minutes 22-20, 21-16.
The win marks Tai’s seventh victory over the world No. 21.
Today, Tai faces Canada’s Michelle Li, who Tai defeated last week in the Yonex quarter-finals 21-11, 21-13.
The world No. 10 yesterday overcame American Iris Wang 21-17, 21-18.
Bangkok is hosting three tournaments in a row, culminating in badminton’s World Tour Finals next week.
The players have been facing off under tight biosecurity because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and without spectators, although the tournaments have been blighted by four positive COVID-19 cases.
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