Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying on Saturday crashed out of the All England Open Badminton Championships, falling to Spain’s Carolina Marin in the women’s singles semi-final.
World No. 3 Tai and Marin are now even in head-to-head matchups (12-12), with the world No. 5 Spaniard beating the fifth seed Taiwanese in 46 minutes in straight sets in Birmingham, after Tai had edged her for the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals title in December last year.
The parity in their head-to-head wins was evident in the start of the first game, with Tai keeping Marin in check early to tie at 4-4, before Marin took seven of the next eight points on a combination of a strong performance and several unforced errors by the former world No. 1.
Photo courtesy of Badminton Photo
After the mid-game interval, Tai managed to narrow the gap to only two points at 12-14, but Marin again took the upper hand to close out the game 21-13.
The second game proceeded much as the first, with Marin jumping out to an 11-5 lead in the first half. Again, Tai nearly pulled even at 10-11, only to see Marin go on a 9-1 run on her way to a 21-12 victory.
Tai, who played the match with both her knees and ankles taped, said she had been struggling with knee injuries since playing in the French Open earlier this month.
Despite the discomfort, she said she tried to overcome it and adapt, in what is likely to be her last career appearance at the English tournament.
The loss at Utilita Arena Birmingham adds to Tai’s other late tournament upset this month. At the French Open, the Taiwanese ace similarly mounted a commendable campaign until the semi-final, when she gave up repeated leads to be edged by South Korea’s An Se-young, who in January topped Tai in the Malaysian Open final.
This year has not been all bad news for the Taiwanese shuttler. Tai in January bagged the India Open women’s singles title.
She is to return to Taiwan for at least a few weeks to rest and receive treatment on her knees. Her next competition is likely to be the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, which is to start on April 9.
Meanwhile, An’s All England Open reign was ended by Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi, who beat the world No. 1 South Korean 21-10, 19-21, 21-14 to set up a final against Marin.
In men’s singles, Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting beat France’s Christo Popov 19-21, 21-5, 21-11 to reach his first All England Open final, where he was to face compatriot and former roommate Jonatan Christie.
Christie advanced by defeating India’s Lakshya Sen 21-12, 10-21, 21-15.
“I remember when we came to the national team. He was my first teammate. He is very humble, he is also a very happy person,” Christie said. “For six or seven years we shared a room together so it is a proud moment for us and for Indonesia men’s singles. I think this is a good story for us.”
In the men’s doubles semi-finals, Taiwanese shuttlers Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan lost 21-16, 21-15 to Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik.
Meanwhile, at the Orleans Masters Badminton in France, Taiwan’s Chi Yu-jen lost 21-19, 21-12 to Japan’s Koo Takahashi in the men’s singles semi-finals, while Taiwan’s Chen Zhi-ray and Lin Yu-chieh were defeated 21-17, 23-21 by Indonesia’s Sabar Karyaman Gutama and Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani.
Additional reporting by AFP
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