Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying on Friday beat her rival in the women’s singles quarter-finals at the Yonex All-England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham to enter the semi-finals.
World No. 1 Tai cruised past Aya Ohori of Japan 21-12, 21-13 in a match that lasted just 33 minutes.
She is next to compete against eighth seed and world No. 7 Chen Yufei of China.
Photo: Reuters
The two have competed six times in the past, all of which were won by Tai.
Their latest encounter was in the finals of the Malaysia Masters in January, which was won by Tai in two straight games.
In the men’s doubles, Taiwan’s Chen Hung-ling and Wang Chi-lin lost 15-21, 13-21 in the quarter-finals to Indonesian duo Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo.
In another matchup, Taiwanese Liao Min-chun and Su Ching-heng also lost their chance to enter the semi-finals after losing to their Japanese rivals Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe 21-14, 21-19.
In the men’s singles, Lin Dan, the former two-time Olympic champion, turned the clock back for one magical hour as he ended the title defense of his career-long rival Lee Chong Wei in the quarter-finals.
The 34-year-old Chinese player beat the 35-year-old Malaysian 21-16, 21-17, although their light-footed movements and brilliantly varied stroke-play would have made it impossible for outsiders to guess their ages.
Lee attacked more than usual to try to nullify the threat of a freshly motivated Lin, and managed to squeeze in front at 16-15 in the first game and 13-10 in the second.
However, Lin showed just why he has made himself many people’s unofficial favorite for his seventh All-England title, making brilliant surges during the most crucial phases of both games and finishing them off quickly.
“I played quite well,” Lin said. “It’s a great tournament, and he is one of the great competitors, so this is superb.”
“I will move forward now. There are a lot of competitions to come this year,” Lee said.
However, there will surely be fears that this might have been his last appearance at the tournament he says he loves best.
Earlier, there was an upset when Olympic champion Chen Long lost for the first time to fellow Chinese player Shi Yuqi, and after his 21-10, 21-17 defeat, he appeared to be suggesting that the result was to be expected.
“I am happy that whoever wins this match will go to the semi-finals for Team China,” he said.
The other Olympic singles champion also lost, but Carolina Marin’s 21-15, 21-18 defeat to Akane Yamaguchi, the World Super Series title-winner from Japan, was much more in line with current form.
Yamaguchi was fast, tenacious and clever at getting the match played where it suited her, in the mid-court and forecourt. She is to play fourth seed Pusarla Sindhu, who defeated seventh seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan 20-22, 21-18, 21-18.
The US$1 million Grand Prix began on Wednesday and is to finish today.
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