Taiwan’s two top badminton players yesterday took decidedly different routes to reach the semi-finals of their respective singles draws at the BWF Badminton World Championships in Tokyo.
World No. 4 Chou Tien-chen needed a near miracle in the final game to overcome seventh seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in men’s singles, while world No. 2 Tai Tzu-ying had little trouble wearing down her Thai opponent in the women’s singles.
Chou had to save five match points to top Christie 14-21, 21-11, 22-20 in a 71-minute thriller to reach his first ever World Championships semi-finals.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Christie had Chou down 20-15 in the final game, but three errors by the Indonesian and a yellow card at 20-18 for delaying the match made it clear the Taiwanese veteran still had a chance.
Chou took the next two points to even up the match, and he emerged victorious after an errant shot by Christie went wide and then hit a smashed winner down the line that surprised his opponent.
Both players dropped to the floor after the final point of the match, physically and emotionally exhausted.
Chou, 32, who claimed his fourth Taipei Open singles title last month, next takes on world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in today’s semi-finals for a spot in the final.
The Taiwanese will be a huge underdog, given that he has only beaten the Dane twice in 17 attempts.
Meanwhile, Tai romped past world No. 12 Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand 21-16, 21-9 in 45 minutes.
After a closely contested first game, the world No. 2 dominated the second, taking the audience on a master class of control and deception that repeatedly left her opponent lunging at air.
The win extended Tai’s head-to-head advantage over her Thai opponent to 12-3.
Tai next faces a much tougher test in the semi-finals — fourth seed Chen Yufei of China — as the world No. 2 looks to improve on her second-placed finish at last year’s BWF World Championships in Huelva, Spain.
Tai has lost her past two encounters with Chen, both of them in Malaysia in July.
She last defeated Chen in a tournament in Indonesia in June.
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