Taiwanese badminton ace Chou Tien-chen was defeated in the semi-finals of the men’s singles at the Indonesia Masters yesterday by World No. 1 Kento Momota of Japan.
The world No. 4 and fourth-seeded Chou fell to top seed Momota 21-19, 21-11 in 46 minutes on the resort island of in Bali, where the tournament is taking place in a bubble without fans because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Momota extended his head-to-head record with Chou to 13-2.
Photo: AFP / Badminton Association of Indonesia
In the opening game, Momota edged to a four-point lead of 11-7 at the interval before Chou made a comeback to level the score at 17-17 by pocketing six of eight points.
Momota then found game point at 20-19, winning when Chou hit a shot wide.
The Japanese player was more aggressive in the second game and raced to an 11-4 lead at the interval.
Chou struggled to get back into position following Momota’s shots to the back of the court, which enabled the Japanese to feed off the pace.
Outstanding net play from Momota’s forehand side widened the score to 17-8 and he secured a match point opportunity at 20-10, with Chou saving the first, but conceding the second.
Momota today faces third-seeded Anders Antonsen of Denmark in the final after he beat unseeded Kidambi Srikanth of India 21-14, 21-9.
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