Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s Chong Wei Feng has reached Lingshui China Masters semi-final with a straight-set 21-18, 21-11 victory over Zhou Zeqi of China on Friday. Chong will play Lin Yu Hsien of Taiwan in the final four.
Lin Yu Hsien on the other hand, who knocked out his compatriot and the No. 1 seed Hsu Jen Hao in the previous round, was pushed to the limit by Malaysia’s No. 7 seed Iskandar Zulkarnain before entering the semi-finals with a 21-14, 17-21, 21-14 victory over Zulkarnain.
Another Malaysian men’s singles player, the No. 2 seed Daren Liew, however, was swept aside by China’s Lu Guangzu, losing 18-21, 5-21 in 32 minutes.
Meanwhile, there’s no seeded players in the women’s singles semi-finals.
The London Olympic champion Li Xuerui defeated Deng Xuan of Hong Kong 21-17, 11-21, 21-14 to meet compatriot Wang Zhiyi on Saturday. Deng Xuan was once part of the Chinese junior team but resigned from the team at the end of 2014, and she is now competing for Hong Kong at international tournaments.
“Li Xuerui and I used to be teammate, it’s incredible to see her got back to court after such a severe injury,” said Deng Xuan.
The other semi-final will be an all-Korean affair as Ga Eun Kim who defeated home player and seventh seed Cai Yanyan 21-19, 13-21, 21-16 to meet Sim Yu Jin.
Now, let’s switch venue to Wateringen, Netherlands. Malaysian player Leong Jun Hao who won the Finnish Open last Sunday, suffered an upset by going down to qualifier Joshua Eipe of Denmark in the first round, bowing out 18-21, 19-21.
Another Malaysian player, the No. 6 seed Cheam June Wei who lost to Leong at the Finnish Open final last Sunday, produced a strong display to outlast Siril Verma of India 21-10, 21-10 in the first round, and received a walkover by Christina Kirchmayr of Switzerland in the second round. Cheam will face Jacob Nilsson of Sweden on Saturday.
