Taiwan’s world No. 2 Chou Tien-chen yesterday advanced to the finals of the Yonex Chinese Taipei Open after winning his men’s singles semi-final.
The top seed was made to fight for the win by Indonesian world No. 34 Shesar Hiren Rhustavito, but managed to secure a 23-25, 21-10, 21-13 victory in 1 hour, 9 minutes.
In the thrilling first game, Rhustavito started impressively with three consecutive points and held a 8-11 lead before the players switched sides.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
Although Chou got back into the game, he was eventually edged out 25-23 in the tiebreaker.
The home crowd urged Chou to an early 11-5 lead in the second game, then after a water break the Taiwanese extended the gap to win 21-10.
Chou was again in control in the third frame, although Rhustavito tried to put Chou under pressure by lengthening the rallies.
Chou, who won 65 of the 113 rallies, said that despite losing the first game, he told himself he had to keep playing hard.
“My opponent held his form quite well, but he later became tired as the speed of play transitioned,” he said.
Rhustavito, who won 48 rallies, said that he felt his errors were the deciding factor.
“I didn’t think too much; I just wanted to play my best for each match and I ended up at this stage today, but Chou played really well and made fewer errors than me,” he said.
Chou is to face world No. 47 Heo Kwang-hee of South Korea in the finals today.
Chou finished third in the men’s singles at last year’s open after winning the title in 2016 and 2017.
In mid-July, Chou scored one of the biggest victories of his career when he won the Blibli Indonesia Open, a top-tier BWF Super 1000 event, followed by a BWF Super 500 event in Thailand last month.
In the men’s doubles, Taiwanese second seeds Lee Wang and Wang Chi-lin were bested 21-19, 21-23, 21-23 by South Korean duo Choi Sol-gyu and Seo Seung-jae, who are to meet Malaysians Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong in the finals.
The Yonex Chinese Taipei Open, a slightly lower-tier BWF Super 300 event, ends today at Taipei Arena and has a total purse of US$500,000.
“I don’t remember the moment, but ever since I was a kid, that’s the first thing I loved,” two-time NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas said of his lifelong romance with basketball. However, that journey unfolded against the limitations of his size in a game where height often dictates opportunity — a reality he confronted throughout his career. At 175cm, Thomas is less than 2cm taller than the average Taiwanese adult male, while NBA players during his career stood at about 200cm on average. Compared with the NBA’s average career length of less than five years, Thomas’ 13-season career stands out as
Hans Niemann declares he would become a “stone cold killer” in a Netflix documentary released on Tuesday about his feud with five-time classical world champion Magnus Carlsen, a pledge that injects new edge into the lingering fallout from the cheating scandal that shook elite chess. “I’m gonna be a stone cold killer the rest of my life,” the US’ Niemann says in the film. “I’m going to become the best player in the world, and no one is going to believe that now, but this clip will play over and over again in 10 years — just wait.” “I just
Dakar and Rabat have longstanding ties, but relations have been strained since the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final, which Senegal won in mid-January before being stripped of the title, which was transferred to Morocco. Now, the AFCON trophy is something of a thorn in the two countries’ sides. On Rue Mohamed V, the street where Moroccan vendors are based in the Senegalese capital, a police van is parked. “The police have been on high alert since the Confederation of African Football [CAF] decided to award the title to Morocco, but there have been no incidents,” a local resident said.
Top seeded Jessica Pegula on Friday once again fought back from a set down to reach the WTA Charleston Open semi-finals with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win against Russia’s Diana Shnaider. Defending champion Pegula has lost the first set in all three of her matches at the tournament so far, but again dug deep to maintain her hopes of retaining the title. The world No. 5 from the US took 2 hours, 10 minutes to defeat 19th-ranked Shnaider, relying on a formidable service game that included eight aces. Shnaider battled well in the first two sets and broke early for a 2-0 lead
RSS