Taiwan’s top two badminton players yesterday won their singles quarter-finals at the BWF Japan Open to advance to the semi-finals, albeit in different ways.
In the men’s singles, world No. 6 Chou Tien-chen pulled out all the stops in a grueling 81-minute match against H.S. Prannoy of India to score a nail-biting 21-17, 15-21, 22-20 victory at the Maruzen Intec Arena in Osaka.
Stepping onto the court at the start of his matchup against Prannoy, Chou took the opening game, before the 30-year-old Indian player forced the decider.
Photo: AFP
In the decider, Chou charged ahead 20-17, only to have Prannoy save three match points to tie the game 20-20. From there, a hit from Prannoy went long before the match-winning rally, which saw Chou convert his fourth match point as his opponent went wide.
With the win, Chou advanced to the semi-finals and pulled ahead 5-3 in his head-to-head matchups with Prannoy, who was knocked out after ousting last year’s world champion, Loh Kean-yew of South Korea, in the second round.
Chou, who dropped from world No. 4 to No. 6 on Tuesday, next faces Shi Yuqi of China.
In the women’s singles, world No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying sailed past world No. 8 Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand 21-19, 21-18 in 38 minutes to book her slot in the semi-finals.
Taiwan’s badminton queen next faces world No. 4 An Se-young of South Korea, who defeated world No. 5 Carolina Marin of Spain 21-18, 13-21, 21-17 in 74 minutes.
Tai, who climbed back to the top of the women’s singles rankings on Tuesday, is seeking her fourth title this year, following wins at the Thailand Open, Indonesia Open and Taipei Open in May, June and July respectively.
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