Taiwan’s top male badminton player, Chou Tien-chen, on Saturday bowed out in the men’s singles semi-finals at the Thailand Open after losing in straight games to Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn.
The world No. 6 Chou, seeded fourth at the Super 500 tournament, lost to the world No. 2 Thai 21-7, 21-19 in 53 minutes. The victory improved Vitidsarn’s head-to-head record against Chou to 3-5.
Chou, 36, trailed throughout the opening game after the score was tied 2-2. His relatively passive approach allowed the 25-year-old Thai to capitalize on Chou’s defensive clears with powerful smashes while committing few unforced errors.
Photo: AFP
The Taiwanese veteran appeared more aggressive in the second game, and took leads of 3-2 and 7-6 before Vitidsarn responded with a 5-0 run and never trailed again.
After falling behind 14-8, Chou rallied to cut the deficit to 20-19 before Vitidsarn converted his third match point.
Despite the loss, Chou still recorded his best result in a Badminton World Federation World Tour event this year. The only other event in which he reached the semi-finals this year was in the Asia Championships last month.
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