Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday edged world No. 1 Akane Yamaguchi 21-17, 21-19 to advance to the Korea Open women’s singles finals in Yeosu, South Korea.
World No. 4 Tai is 11-12 in head-to-head matches with Yamaguchi, who denied the Taiwanese her fourth BWF World Tour Finals title in Bangok last year.
Tai, a former world No. 1, topped the Japanese superstar in a brisk 35 minutes, to set up a final showdown today with world No. 2 An Se-young of South Korea, who beat China’s world No. 3 Chen Yufei 15-21, 21-8, 24-22 earlier in the day.
Photo courtesy of Badminton Photo via CNA
In her first game against Yamaguchi, Tai fell behind 12-16, before winning five consecutive points to close the game at 21-17.
She led the second game 14-9, but her Japanese opponent fought back to level the scoreboard 17-17. Tai clinched the match with a well-executed smash.
She told the Central News Agency that despite her victory, the match was not easy and she had made a number of errors.
Tai, who in April announced she would retire after this season, is seeking her third title this year against An, who has beaten the Taiwanese in six of their eight matches.
Tai is the last of her compatriots remaining in the tournament after Lin Xiao-min and Hu Ling-fang were knocked out 21-12, 21-20 on Friday in their quarter-final against China’s Zhang Shu-xian and Zheng Yu.
On Thursday, Taiwan’s world No. 7 Chou Tien-chen, who was seeded second at the tournament, was knocked out in the second round of the men’s singles by Denmark’s Anders Antonsen 21-13, 21-19, while Wang Tzu-wei lost 22-20, 21-18 to China’s Lu Guang-zu.
In the women’s singles, Taiwan’s Pai Yu-po lost 21-11, 21-12 to Chen. The Taiwanese duo of Lu Ching-yao and Yang Po-han exited the men’s doubles after their 21-19, 21-15 loss to Indonesia’s Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto, and Taiwan’s Liu Chiao-yun and Wang Yu-qiao lost 21-12, 21-16 to Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi of Japan in the women’s doubles.
This year’s tournament at Jinnam Stadium carries a total prize pool of US$420,000. The singles winners are to take home US$31,500 each.
Additional reporting by CNA
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