Taiwanese badminton star Chou Tien-chen on Saturday triumphed in a 64-minute marathon match against Japan’s Koki Watanabe to advance to the men’s singles final at the Arctic Open in Vantaa, Finland.
World No. 10 Chou defeated Watanabe 21-12, 14-21, 21-10 to set up a showdown against world No. 5 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia after press time last night.
Christie has won nine of their sixteen encounters since 2015, while Chou has won seven, including their most recent match at the KFF Singapore Open on May 29, when the Taiwanese eliminated Christie 21-17, 21-6 in the opening round.
Photo: CNA
Chou’s match against fifth seed Christie would be his fourth final this season. Chou won the Thailand Masters title in February.
Despite having just played for 87 minutes in the quarter-finals on Friday, 34-year-old Chou showed no signs of fatigue in the match against world No. 14 Watanabe.
In the first set, Chou capitalized on his excellent net play and Watanabe’s shot instability after movement to score six consecutive points from 12-8, ultimately taking the first game with ease.
While Watanabe increased his pace to break through Chou’s defense and win the second set, the seventh seed Taiwanese opened the third with a strong 7-2 run.
Despite Watanabe’s attempts to counterattack, former world No. 2 Chou repeatedly dismantled his smashes, widening the score gap until he secured a 20-10 match point with a cross-court smash.
In his quarter-final against France’s Alex Lanier, Chou won 22-20, 13-21, 21-19 in 87 minutes, avenging his loss to the world No. 21 in the final of the Japan Open in August.
In a tightly contested first set, Chou fought back after falling behind six times to secure a set point at 20-19. Despite his opponent leveling the score at 20-20, Chou found an extra gear to win the next two points and take the set.
Chou lost his rhythm in the second set, which the French player took to level the score, but regained his form in the third set with excellent net play, scoring three consecutive points to secure victory when trailing 18-19.
Lanier played well throughout the match, Chou said.
“I tried my best to pressure him, look for scoring opportunities throughout the game, and stick to my strategy,” he said.
At the World Junior Championships in Nanchang, China, Taiwan’s Lai Po-yu and Sun Liang-ching yesterday crashed out of the mixed doubles final, losing 21-18, 21-14 to China’s Lin Xiangyi and Liu Yuanyuan.
On Saturday, the Taiwanese pair, who were teaming up for the first time at the tournament, defeated Japan’s Shuji Sawada and Aya Tamaki 21-11, 21-15 in the semi-final.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
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