Kuala Lumpur: The World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen and World No. 8 Jonatan Christie produced an enthralling Malaysia Open semi-final match that kept a capacity crowd at Axiata Arean on the edge of their seats for 71 minutes on Saturday before Axelsen came out on top with a 21-15, 20-22, 21-11 victory.
In another men’s singles semi-final action, World No. 2 Kento Momota continued his impressive return to Malaysia by scraping past World No. 18 Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand 21-11, 21-12 in 42 minutes.
Both World No. 1 and World No. 2 will set up a mouth-watering showdown in the Malaysia Open final on Sunday.
Although Momota held a 14-2 career head-to-head advantage over Axelsen, Momota has been struggling lately while Axelsen who has been in red hot form managed to defeat Momota in their last encounter – the Denmark Open final with 20-22, 21-18, 21-12.
“Frankly, I was not confident in today’s match, I was just trying to avoid easy mistakes and be more proactive,” said Momota after the semi-final match.
“I will play my best in the final for the fans. They have been cheering and supporting me very hard throughout the week,” said Momota.
This would be Momota’s second Malaysia Open final. He lost to Malaysian badminton legend Lee Chong Wei in the final of the 2018 edition.
Meanwhile, for Axelsen, this would be his first Malaysia Open final.
“I really want to win, but I’ll focus on recovery right now. Happy to see Momota back playing well and looking forward to having a great match with him tomorrow,” said Axelsen.
In women’s singles, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei of China eliminated the four-time Malaysia Open winner (2013, 2017, 2018, 2019) Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei 19-21, 21-13, 21-15.
Chen is set to play the 2016 Malaysia Open champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand, who outlasted another Chinese player – Wang Zhi Yi 21-8, 21-18 in other semi-final action that lasted 38 minutes.
