Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen yesterday reached his first BWF Japan Open final after outdueling China’s Shi Yuqi in their semi-final.
World No. 6 Chou beat World No. 22 Shi 15-21, 21-19, 21-12 in 72 minutes at the Super 750 tournament in Osaka.
Shi clinched the first game 15-21 before Chou forced a decider by winning the second game 21-19.
Photo: AFP
In the rubber, Chou was in front 12-10 before scoring six consecutive points.
After giving up the next point, Chou pocketed the next two. From there, Shi saved the first match point, but failed to save the second, as he was unable to run to the net in time to return Chou’s shot.
Chou is to face Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto, who beat Anders Antonsen 22-20, 21-19, eliminating the Dane for a second week running to reach his first final of the season.
World No. 21 Nishimoto — who became the home crowd’s favorite in the men’s competition after No. 2 seed Kento Momota misfired and made an early exit this week — said he hoped his “passion” would help him win the final.
“Last time was last time and today was today — I was just concentrating on each point as it came,” Nishimoto said. “I know that I’ll definitely be nervous in the final, because I’ll be playing at home but I want to enjoy it.”
In the women’s singles, Taiwan’s world No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying lost 12-21, 21-14, 13-21 to world No. 4 An Se-young of South Korea in a 53-minute semi-final.
An is to play World No. 2 Akane Yamaguchi today in the final
Yamaguchi beat China’s Chen Yufei to reach the final, thanking her home fans for getting her over the line.
Yamaguchi, who retained her world title last week in Tokyo, edged Chen 15-21, 21-16, 24-22 in Osaka after a tense encounter in which both players had match points.
Yamaguchi beat Chen in the world championships final last week, and she again came out on top after a match that she said was about “who could tough it out the longest.”
“We’re in Japan and I think my win was down to the power of the crowd,” the 25-year-old said. “I had some fatigue and I felt really tired until midway through the match. Then the final game started and I just wanted to enjoy it, and I started to play well and my movement improved.”
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