Odense: Both Taiwanese badminton stars Chou Tien Chen and Tai Tzu Ying have booked their places in the Denmark Open men’s singles and women’s singles finals respectively.
The No. 4 seed Chou overcame spirited resistance from Anders Antonsen of Denmark, when the Taiwanese clawed his way into the finals as he fought magnificently back to take Antonsen to a third and final set before winning the semifinal match 19-21, 21-11, 21-12 in 84 minutes.
Chou will set up a mouth-watering Denmark Open final against World No. 1 Kento Momota of Japan on Sunday.
The World No. 1 Momota stayed on course for his first Denmark Open title as he sensationally knocked out defending champion Kidambi Srikanth of India 21-16, 21-12 in other men’s singles semi-final.
After an early resistance from No. 7 seed He Bingjiao of China, the women’s singles No. 1 seed Tai Tzu Ying was in cruise control on Odense Sports Park as she beat He Bingjiao 21-14 in the first set.
Tai then gained revenge for her World Championship quarter-final defeat to He Bingjiao by trashing the Chinese player 21-12 in the second set, setting up a final show down with Saina Nehwal of India.
In the all-Indonesian men’s doubles semi-final, No. 1 seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia held off a late surge from Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan 21-18, 24-22 to play No. 4 seeds Takeshi Kamura/Keigo Sonoda of Japan on Sunday.
Yuki Fukushima who has been embroiled in a scandal with Kento Momota few weeks ago, entered the women’s doubles final with her partner Sayaka Hirota. The duo will battle compatriots Shiho Tanaka/Koharu Yonemoto for the women’s doubles crown.
Meanwhile, the No. 1 seeds Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong of China will meet Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand in the mixed doubles final.
