Second-seeded Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia will take on Muhammad Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia in the men’s final of the India Open badminton tournament.
Hidayat, a former world and Olympic champion, easily beat Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto 21-13, 21-11 in Saturday’s semifinals while Hashim overcame 19-year-old Chen Long of China 21-18, 19-21, 21-15.
“I took some time to get adjusted to the conditions here. But now I’m getting into my rhythm and am feeling good about my game,” Hidayat said. “I’m familiar with Tommy’s game, I was determined to get off to a good start and not give him any chance to attack.”
In the women’s semifinals, top-seeded Pi Hongyan of France defeated sixth-seeded Yu Hirayama of Japan 21-7, 21-14 to set up a final against Julia Pei Xian Wong of Malaysia, who rallied to beat Zhang Bei Wen of Singapore 19-21, 21-13, 21-15.
Hashim had a tough opponent in Chen, who had knocked out top-ranked Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in the first round.
Chen produced a superb rally to win the second game after trailing 16-9. But in the decider, the more experienced Hashim kept the rallies short with crisp smashes and deceptive drops to take a commanding 15-7 lead and never allowed his opponent to stage another comeback.
