Seoul: The No. 4 seed Taiwanese player Chou Tien Chen overcame a battling No. 6 seed Kenta Nishimoto of Japan 19-21, 21-18, 21-14 in 71 minutes to reach the Korea Open final.
Chou who had defeated Nishimoto twice in their previous two meeting, scored three consecutive points in the second game to win it 21-18, forcing a decided which ended in Chou’s favor on Saturday. Chou will meet Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto in the final.
The No. 8 seed Tommy Sugiarto survived a late scare in the second set from Jonatan Christie as he managed to hold on to beat the Asian Games champion 21-13, 22-20 and entered the title match.
In men’s doubles, Malaysian pair Chooi Kah Ming/Low Juan Shen’s impressive run in the tournament was halted by No. 8 seed Hiroyuki Endo/Yuta Watanabe of Japan, going down to the Japanese pair 13-21, 12-21.
“First of all we did not expect to reach the semi-finals, especially at our first tournament as a professional player,” said Low Juan Shen.
“It definitely boosted our confidence. However, we need to admit that our game today was not the best. We need to show consistent performance in upcoming tournaments,” added Low.
“I have no regret of leaving Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM). We are looking forward to break into world’s top 30 by end of this year.”
“It’s not easy to be a professional player as we need to stay discipline and plan everything for ourselves,” said Low who is currently train in the Ampang Jaya club with Chooi Kah Ming.
The world number 75 Malaysian pair will next play in the Taiwan Open, which is scheduled to start next Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Endo/Watanabe will set up an all-Japanese final with compatriots Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi on Sunday.
Women’s singles No. 6 seed Zhang Beiwen of USA will play No. 3 seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the final.
