Taiwan’s Wang Tzu-wei on Thursday upset world No. 1 shuttler Viktor Axelsen to advance to the men’s singles quarter-finals at the French Open.
Wang bested the formidable Dane 21-12, 21-17 after Axelsen seemed poised to mount a comeback midway through the second game.
In the opening game, Wang jumped to a 10-1 lead, and while Axelson narrowed that to five points at 12-7, the 29-year-old Taiwanese, who has never ranked higher than world No. 25 in his long career, held on to take the game.
Photo: CNA
He then raced out to an 8-1 lead to start the second game, but Axelsen picked up his pace and tied the game 10-10.
With Axelsen holding the momentum, Wang found his rhythm again with the score tied at 12-12, winning seven of the next eight points to go up 19-13 to essentially seal the match.
Wang was grateful to have finally defeated Axelsen after losing to him all six times the two had previously played each other.
“He’s world No. 1. He’s really strong and I’ve never beaten him before,” Wang told the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Web site. “So I was relaxed and tried to do my best on court, and I’m glad I did well today. He made some mistakes and I seized my chance. I didn’t let him feel comfortable at all.”
Axelsen gave credit to Wang for “playing great.”
“He deserved the win,” Axelsen said. “I have nothing much to say other than I’m surprised by my own level. It was not what I hoped, especially as I was happy to be back after a long time due to injuries.”
The Taiwanese was to face eighth seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the quarter-finals.
The Thai won last year’s BWF World Championships in Copenhagen and has won all five of his career matches against Wang.
Aside from Wang, Taiwanese ace Tai Tzu-ying and the men’s doubles duo Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan also advanced to the quarter-finals.
Tai was to play Aya Ohori of Japan in the women’s singles. She barely beat Ohori at the French Open in October last year and lost to her earlier that month at the Asian Games.
Lee and Yang, who won the German Open earlier this month, were to take on seventh seeds Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia.
The French Open was moved to March from October this year to pave the way for the Olympic Games in Paris in July.
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,
The Philippines curling team has been rocking it in Harbin, claiming the tropical nation’s first Asian Winter Games medal yesterday with a victory in the men’s final against South Korea. The team of Marc Pfister, Alan Frei, Christian Haller, Enrico Pfister and alternate Benjo Delarmente took gold with a 5-3 win at Harbin Pingfang Curling Arena. The Philippines Olympic Committee was quick to celebrate with a post on Instagram to mark the historic gold. “This is the first-ever medal for the Philippines at the Asian Winter Games, and the highest achievement for a Southeast Asian athlete in the Games’ history! What an incredible
Taiwan’s Lin Yun-ju and Kao Cheng-jui were defeated by their Chinese counterparts 3-0 on Saturday in the men’s doubles final at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash. Lin and Kao received their silver medals after being defeated by third-seeded duo Lin Shidong and Wang Chuqin of China 2-11, 4-11, 11-13. The Taiwan pair were left playing catch-up early in the match after the Chinese duo proved unstoppable in the first and second game. Although Lin and Kao picked up their pace in the third game and at one point took a 10-8 lead, they were crucially unable to take
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien on Tuesday dumped compatriot and second seed Hsieh Su-wei out of the women’s doubles at the Qatar Open to set up another potential Taiwanese showdown, while world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka suffered a shock defeat in the second round. Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu, who earlier this year won the ASB Classic in Auckland and the Hobart International, defeated Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 10-5 in 1 hour, 29 minutes on Grandstand Court 3 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex. Wu and Jiang on Sunday advanced to the round-of-16 with a 7-6 (7/7),