Bangkok: Both top Taiwanese men’s and women’s singles players, including Chou Tien Chen and Tai Tzu Ying, have reached the semi-final of the YONEX Thailand Open.
The World No. 2 Chou was facing World No. 10 Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia on Friday and he was playing patiently and calmly to secure the victory.
“I played with more patience, and he attacked a lot,” said Chou.
“I was able to win most of the long rallies, and Lee seemed to lose focus eventually,” added Chou.
Chou defeated Lee 21-17, 21-15 to set up quarter-finals meeting with World No. 8 Angus Ng Ka-long of Hong Kong, who overcame teammate Lee Cheuk Yiu 21-17, 21-12.
The other men’s singles semi-final will see Indonesia’s No. 5 seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, who defeated Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke 21-14, 19-21, 21-5, to meet another Dane player, Viktor Axelsen.
The World No. 4 Axelsen saw off Indonesian Jonatan Christie 21-14, 21-5 in 40 minutes.
In women’s singles quarter-finals, World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying needed only 28 minutes to outlast World No. 10 Michelle Li of Canada 21-11, 21-13. Tai will face Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt on Saturday, who beat Thai player Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-13, 21-18.
The other women’s singles semi-final will be played between An Se-young of Korea and Carolina Marin of Spain, who posted wins over Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon (22-20, 21-12) and Supanida Katethong (21-16, 21-16) respectively.
