Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen yesterday failed to reach the men’s singles finals at the 2018 Indonesia Masters after losing to Anthony Ginting of Indonesia.
The world No. 16 Ginting, who was coming off a quarter-final showing in Malaysia last week and had upset world No. 4 Chen Long of China two weeks in a row, topped the world No. 7 Chou 21-16, 13-21, 21-12 in 65 minutes.
The match was decided by big momentum swings.
Photo: AP
In the opening game, Chou sped out to a 10-6 lead, but Ginting then ran off seven straight points and maintained a small lead the rest of the game, clinching it by winning the final three points.
Chou took over the second game with a 9-2 run midway through the game that put him up by 10 points, a lead Ginting narrowed slightly, but could not overcome.
The deciding game was a nail-biter, the match hanging in the balance with the score deadlocked at 9-9, but Ginting then won 10 of the next 12 points to seal the victory.
Despite the defeat, the semi-final showing was Chou’s best in any tournament since he won the Yonex Open Chinese Taipei in July last year.
Chou was the only Taiwanese left in the men’s singles in Indonesia.
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