Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) yesterday beat Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon in their women’s singles semi-final match to advance to today’s final at the Thailand Open.
The top-seeded Tai overcame a 10-21 first-game loss to seventh seed and former world champion Ratchanok to dominate the final two games 21-13, 21-19 in 58 minutes of play at the Impact Arena in Bangkok.
World No. 2 Tai is today to face world No. 4 Chen Yufei of China.
Photo: AFP
Chen yesterday bested Pusarla Venkata Sindhu 21-17, 21-16 to secure her spot in the final of the Super 500 tournament.
On Friday, Tai overpowered China’s He Bingjiao 21-10, 14-21, 21-18 in their tense 57-minute quarter-final match.
After mounting a comeback in the third game, He found match point at 20-18, but hit a wide shot, which was called in by the referee. A challenge from Tai overturned it, giving her the chance to win.
Tai started off her Thailand Open campaign on Wednesday by defeating Julie Dawall Jakobsen of Denmark 18-21, 21-9, 21-5, followed by a sweep of Ruselli Hartawan of Indonesia 21-15, 21-14 on Thursday.
In the men’s doubles quarter-finals on Friday, Taiwanese Olympic gold medalists Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin were knocked out by Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia.
Lee and Wang were overpowered 21-17, 21-10 by the Malaysian pair in just 29 minutes.
In a tight opening game that was tied 13-13, the Malaysians pulled off a 7-4 run to reach match point and win.
Lee and Wang failed to catch up in the second game, and Chia and Soh reached the mid-game interval at 11-5.
The Taiwanese duo continued to trail, but narrowed the gap to only four points at 13-9, before the Malaysians reeled in seven consecutive points to find match point 20-9.
Chia and Soh lost the first match point, but pocketed the second to take the match.
Even after their latest defeat, Lee and Wang hold a 3-2 head-to-head advantage over Chia and Soh.
Lee and Wang on Wednesday defeated compatriots Chang Ko-chi and Po Li-wei 21-15, 23-21, before beating Jeppe Bay and Lasse Molhede of Denmark 21-15, 21-14 on Thursday.
Also on Friday, Taiwan’s Wang Tzu-wei, who is world No. 15, also exited the tournament, after China’s Li Shifeng beat him 21-16, 21-17 in straight games in their men’s singles quarter-final match.
Li’s win extended his head-to-head advantage over Wang Tzu-wei to 2-0.
Wang Tzu-wei on Wednesday defeated Ng Tze Yong of Malaysia 21-12, 13-21, 21-19 in the round-of-32, before beating Toma Junior Popov of France 13-21, 21-15, 21-18 in the round-of-16 on Thursday.
The tournament, which carries a total purse of US$360,000, started on Tuesday and ends today.
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