Seoul: Both Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong who were born on the same day and of the same month, couldn’t add to their birthday celebrations with a victory on Friday at Korea Open, after losing their men’s doubles quarter-finals match against No. 4 seeds Fu Haifeng/Zhang Nan 16-21, 12-21 in 32 minutes.
Fu HaiFeng/Zhang Nan will play unseeded Kim Gi Jung/Kim SA Rang in the semi-finals. Kim Gi Jung/Kim Sa Rang saw off world champions Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan in surprisingly easy fashion with a straight-set 21-17, 21-15 win on Friday.
No. 3 seeds Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen of Denmark will face home stars No. 1 men’s doubles pair Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong for final berth.
In the men’s quarter-finals, Chen Long hammered Son Wan Ho 25-23, 21-13 in a 69 minutes battle and will play Kento Momota in the semi-finals; while in Saturday’s other semi-final, Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan will face Ajay Jayaram of India.
The women’s semi-finals are scheduled for Saturday afternoon when No. 6 Sung Ji Hyun of Korea will take on No. 8 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan. No. 4 seed Wang Yihan faces compatriot No. 5 seed Wang Shixian to book a place in the final.
Zhang Nan/Zhao Yunlei wasted no time in ensuring a semi-finals berth after they eased past Koreans Shin Baek Cheol/Chae Yoo Jung 21-14, 21-9 in 26 minutes in the quarter-finals. Zhang/Zhao are scheduled to clash with another Korean pair No. 7 seeds Ko Sung Hyun/Kim Ha Na on Saturday. Meanwhile, the No. 2 seeds Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir dismantled Chinese Lu Kai/Huang Yaqiong on Friday and will cross sword with No. 5 seeds Chris Adcock/Gabrielle Adcock of England next.
Jung Kyung Eun/Shin Seung Chan advanced Friday for a semi-final showdown with compatriots Chang Ye Na/Lee So Hee in the women’s doubles semi-finals. Nitya Krishinda Maheswari/Greysia Polii of Indonesia looked almost too easy in quarter-finals as they beat former women’s doubles world No. 1 pair Yu Yang/Wang Xiaoli 21-4, 21-18 on Friday. Maheswari/Polii will need to overcome Luo Ying/Luo Yu Saturday for places in the Korea Open final.
