Taiwan’s World No. 4 badminton ace and tournament fourth seed Chou Tien-chen on Friday fell to an upset defeat at the hands of unseeded Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong in the quarter-finals of the Denmark Open at the Odense Sports Park.
The older and more experienced Chou was edged out in the final moments of the thrilling 1 hour, 18 minute duel by Lee in rubber sets 16-21, 21-19, 19-21 on court 1.
The match started with Lee dictating the pace by grabbing a 5-0 lead, with Chou slow to find his range.
Chou seemed to warm up during the second game and took the lead for the first time before finding game point 20-17.
However, it was the superb variation and angle of attacks that led to Lee winning the final game, booking his first ever semi-final at a Super 1000 event, the top tier of the BWF World Tour.
In the mixed doubles, Lee Jhe-huei and Hsu Ya-ching were ousted by Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai in the quarter-finals.
The Taiwanese lost the first game 21-9 and were trailing 11-3 when they were forced to retire.
ETtoday reported that Lee sustained a finger injury during the match.
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