Jakarta: World No. 1 women’s singles player Tai Tzu Ying wrapped up the semi-final contest in style as she overcame the challenge from World No. 8 He Bingjiao of China 21-13, 21-18 in 31 minutes to advance to the Indonesia Open final on Saturday.
Tai will play World No. 5 Chen Yufei of China in the final after she extended her winning streak of the season to 28 matches after Saturday’s victory.
Meanwhile, the 20-year-old Chen Yufei displayed her battling qualities as she recovered from a set down and saved a match point to defeat Sung Ji-hyun of South Korea 21-23, 21-18, 23-21 in an 83 minutes battle.
“I did not want to give up and was playing everything I can to try to stay in the tournament,” said Chen.
In the women’s doubles semi-final, the unseeded Japanese pair of Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara pulled off a huge upset to down the No. 1 seeds Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan of China. Matsumoto/Nagahara got the better of Chen/Jia 21-13, 21-18 in only 39 minutes.
They will set up an all-Japanese final on Sunday, facing compatriots and No. 2 seeds Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota for the women’s doubles title.
The Indonesia Open is an HSBC Badminton World Federation World Tour Super 1000 tournament that offers total prize money of US$1.25 million. It is one of only three Super 1000 level tournaments this year besides the China Open and the All England.
