Paris: Japan’s World No. 1 men’s singles player – Kento Momota continued his impressive run at the 2021 French Open on Friday, coming back from a 7-14 deficit in the first game to outplay World No. 20 Shesar Hiren Rhustavito of Indonesia 21-19, 21-11 to set up a semi-final encounter with compatriot, World No. 13 Kanta Tsuneyama on Saturday.
The World No. 4 Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan will face World No. 35 Heo Kwanghee of Korea in another men’s semi-finals.
In men’s doubles, Malaysia’s Tokyo Olympics bronze medalists – Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik dropped the first game to India’s World No. 11 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty 18-21, before taking the next two 21-18, 21-17 to face the 2014 men’s doubles world champions – Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baekcheol of Korea next.
Meanwhile, Ko/Shin produced a brilliant display in the quarter-finals to down World No. 2 Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia 16-21, 21-19, 21-13.
The World No. 1 Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia fended off a spirited challenge from Malaysia’s World No. 16 Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi 21-13, 22-20 on Friday and will meet teammates World No. 7 Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto in another men’s doubles semi-final.
In the women’s competition, the 2018 French Open champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan faced a tough challenge from Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand on Friday, which needed 70 minutes to overcome Chochuwong 21-19, 19-21, 21-16. The Japanese will face the 2019 French Open champion – An Seyoung of Korea for a spot in the final.
Two Malaysian mixed doubles pairs – Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying and Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai were knocked out of the tournament by No. 3 seeds Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino of Japan and No. 1 seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai from Thailand in the quarter-finals respectively.
Both Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino and Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai will play each other at the top half of the mixed doubles semi-final on Saturday while Mathias Christiansen/Alexandra Bøje of Denmark will face Hong Kong’s Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Suet at the lower half.
