Taiwanese badminton player Chou Tien-chen defeated Vietnam’s Nguyen Hai Dang on Thursday to advance to the quarter-finals of the BWF Super 300 US Open in straight games, 21-17, 21-17.
Facing each other for the first time in two years, Chou and Nguyen battled in a tight first game, with world No. 6 Chou pulling ahead late to secure the win.
Nguyen appeared poised to even the match after taking a 14-7 lead in the second game, but Chou, the top seed in the men’s singles category, rallied to overcome the world No. 73 to clinch a spot in the quarter-finals.
Photo: AFP
Chou is to next face Victor Lai of Canada, who upset fifth seed Su Li-yang of Taiwan on Thursday 21-18, 21-13.
In other results, Taiwan’s Liao Jhuo-fu and Kuo Kuan-lin also advanced to the men’s singles quarter-finals.
Liao triumphed over seventh-seed Justin Hoh of Malaysia, 21-15, 9-21, 21-17, in just under an hour, while Kuo came from behind to defeat fellow Taiwanese Ting Yen-chen (丁彥宸) 13-21, 21-13, 21-15.
In the women’s singles, Taiwan’s third-seeded Sung Shuo-yun progressed to the quarter-finals, with five of the eight teams in the men’s and women’s doubles semi-finals hailing from Taiwan.
While BWF Super 300 events are not considered top-tier tournaments and are typically bypassed by the world’s elite players, they offer opportunities to players outside the top echelon to pick up ranking points.
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