Macau: Women’s singles No. 1 seed Michelle Li of Canada scored one of the most important victory in her career at Macau Open on Friday when she beat former world number one and the London Olympic Champion Li Xuerui of China tournament’s quarter-final at the Tap Seac Multisport Pavilion in Macau.
After claiming the first set 21-15, the Canadian player thwarted Li Xuerui’s late surge by holding her nerve to seal the second set with 21-18.
Michelle Li will next play Ayumi Mine of Japan for a spot in the Macau Open final.
After losing 19-21 in the first set, Malaysia’s No. 7 seed Soniia Cheah wasted a game point opportunity in the second set, allowing No. 3 seed Cheung Ngan Yi of Hong Kong to come back from 19-20 to finish the match with a 22-20 win. Cheung will face No. 5 seed Han Yue of China next.
In men’s singles, China’s qualifier Zhou Zeqi upset the men’s singles top seed Angus Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong 15-21, 21-14, 21-19 in 66 minutes to reach the semi-finals.
Zhou will play another qualifier, Lu Chia Hung of Taiwan on Saturday.
Two former top men’s doubles pairs of the world, Lee Yong Dae/Kim Gi Jung and Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Cheol of Korea are on course for a final meet.
Lee Yong Dae/Kim Gi Jung managed to send No. 1 seeds Chen Hung Ling/Wang Chi-Lin of Taiwan packing with a 21-16, 21-15 while Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Cheol eased past No. 8 seeds Mohamad Arif Ab Latif Arif/Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub Azriyn of Malaysia 21-10, 21-15 to advance to the semi-finals.
Lee Yong Dae/Kim Gi Jung will take on No. 5 seeds Lu Ching Yao/Yang Po Han of Taiwan in the semi-final, while Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Cheol are set to battle Chang Ko-Chi/Lu Chia Pin of Taiwan in the final four.
