Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday claimed her first victory at the season-ending Badminton World Tour (BWF) Finals, while Chou Tien-chen lost his second match in the men’s singles at the Nimibutr Arena in Bangkok.
Tai on Wednesday lost in her first outing at the Badminton World Federation event against China’s He Bingjiao and was forced to work hard against home hope Busanan Ongbamrungphan yesterday, winning 22-20, 21-16 in 43 minutes.
Game 1 was in the balance at 17-17 when Ongbamrungphan seemed to run out of patience in a long rally, putting a shot out of bounds from a stable position and in the next point missing a low return to make it 19-17 to Tai.
Photo: AP
The Taiwanese star gave herself two game points at 20-18, but frustration set in as she put a shot into the net and then missed a smash to tie it at 20-20.
However, her brilliance shone as she manipulated her opponent’s position and timed her shots to claim the next two points and win the first game.
In game 2, Tai battled to a 13-12 lead and then pulled away to give herself five match points at 20-15, claiming victory on the second as Ongbamrungphan hit long.
Photo: AP
In other games in the women’s singles, top-ranked Akane Yamaguchi was defeated 21-19, 21-18 by Chen Yufei of China.
It was a vital win for fourth-ranked Chen, who lost to Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung on Wednesday.
Chen claimed the first game, but only after Yamaguchi saved three game points.
Yamaguchi showed some flashes of brilliance in the second and looked like she was on the verge of securing a tiebreaker, but squandered a four-point advantage at the interval.
Chen fought back to even the scores and ultimately claim the second game and victory in 49 minutes.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s An Se-young kept her hopes alive by beating Tunjung 21-9, 11-21, 21-10 — also a crucial win after a loss a day earlier to Yamaguchi.
In the men’s singles, Anthony Ginting of Indonesia bolstered his chances of a semi-final berth, beating Chou 21-14, 12-21, 21-19 in 56 minutes, his second win after defeating compatriot Jonatan Christie.
Chou fell to his second defeat in Group B after a loss against Loh Kean Yew of Singapore.
Chou and Ginting looked evenly matched early in the first game with the score 3-3, but Ginting pulled away to 9-5 due to mistakes from the Taiwanese player.
Chou fought back to level the score at 10-10 and even took a 13-12 lead, but the Indonesian powered away with eight consecutive points to take the first game.
In the second game, Chou played more aggressively, not hesitating with the smash. He took an 11-5 lead at the break and Ginting had trouble keeping up as Chou forced a third game.
In the decider, Ginting claimed an early 7-3 advantage before Chou had a run of six consecutive points to go ahead 11-10 at the interval.
However, mistakes marred Chou’s upset bid as he lost the lead and never regained it.
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