Taiwanese badminton ace Chou Tien-chen yesterday advanced to the men’s singles final at the French Open in Paris with a 21-15, 21-17 win in 46 minutes over world No. 35 Heo Kwang-hee of South Korea in the semi-finals.
Chou led throughout in the first game, winning with his first match point.
He fell behind twice early in the second game, with the score at 2-1 and 3-2, but then re-established his dominance until match point, which he converted on the third attempt.
Chou faces either Kento Momota or Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan in today’s final.
On Friday, Chou reached the booked a slot in semi-finals after overpowering Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto 21-17, 19-21, 21-16.
The fourth-seeded Chou edged out World No. 17 and 2017 French Open runner-up Nishimoto in 1 hour, 20 minutes on Stade Pierre de Coubertin’s Court.
The win extended the 31-year-old Chou’s head-to-head advantage over the 27-year-old Nishimoto to 8-1.
Chou took an 11-7 lead before playing close to the net and taking it to 20-17, when an error by Nishimoto allowed Chou to pocket game 1.
Chou took another 11-7 lead in game 2, before a comeback by Nishimoto made it game point at 18-20. An error by Chou handed the Japanese the game 21-19.
In the rubber, Nishimoto found his angle to slice the shuttlecock, pulling in four successive points to craft a 5-1 lead. Chou fought back, including in a 43-shot rally, to climb back to a 10-9 lead.
The was score tied at 15-15 before Chou found his composure in a 5-1 run over Nashimoto to 20-16.
A final put away sealed the match for Chou, who celebrated with a double thumbs up.
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