Singapore: The Singapore Open men’s singles No. 1 seed, Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan defeated China’s Qiao Bin in a thrilling three-setter 21-12, 18-21, 21-16 on Saturday to book himself a spot in the final.
Chou got off to a strong start to finish the first set against Qiao Bin in just 12 minutes. Qiao then recovered in the second set, rallied past Chou to force a decider. Chou played with his relentless attack and unparalleled defense in the third set to see off Qiao and to secure his final berth.
The top seeded men’s singles player will set up an all-Taiwanese final against Hsu Jen-hao, who outlasted Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam in straight-set, 21-15, 21-11 in 79 minutes.
“It’s really encouraging to be able to enter the final. I’ll need to play better quality shots if I want to win the title,” said Chou who is eyeing his second title of the year after clinching the German Open title in March by defeating Angus Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong 21-19, 18-21, 21-18.
In the women’s singles, China’s No. 7 seed Gao Fangjie withstood a spirited challenge from No. 2 seed Nitchaon Jindapol, exacting her loss to the Thai player in the Uber Cup semifinal with a 21-15, 12-21, 21-14 win. Gao will face Japan’s Sayaka Takahashi on Sunday, who toppled China’s Han Yue 21-18, 21-14 in another semi-final.
The Indonesian No. 5 seeds men’s pair Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan edged out compatriots Angga Pratama and Rian Agung Saputro 21-16, 21-13, to set up a final clash against Ou Xuanyi/Ren Xiangyu of China in the final.
The Singapore Open is a BWF World Tour Super 500 event that offers a total prize money of US$355,000.
