Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday continued her winning streak at the Malaysia Masters, defeating China’s He Bingjiao 21-17, 21-12 to reach the women’s singles final.
World No. 2 Tai started slowly and trailed to the world No. 7 0-3 before turning the first game around and take a 9-8 lead. She followed that by winning six points in a row.
In the second game, Tai took a comfortable 9-2 lead and stayed in front all the way.
Photo: AP
The victory came on the back of top seeds Tai’s victory over world champion Pusarla Sindhu in the quarter-finals on Friday.
It was a further step in the Taiwanese player’s efforts to reclaim the world No. 1 ranking she lost to China’s Chen Yufei last year and she is to face Chen for the title on Sunday after the the Chinese player defeated Carolina Marin of Spain 21-15, 21-14.
The Malaysia Masters, the first major badminton tournament of the year, is a Super 500 World Tour event with a total purse of US$400,000.
All Super 500 World Tour tournaments until April 26 count toward qualifying points for this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.
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