Osaka: Taiwan’s World No. 6 Chou Tien Chen survived a tough challenge in the 2022 Japan Open semi-finals on Saturday, where he came from dropping the first game to beat World No. 22 Shi Yuqi of China 15-21, 21-19, 21-12 in 62 minutes.
Saturday’s match was Chou’s third three-setter of the tournament, he beat Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong 18-21, 21-17, 21-15 in the first round, and knocked out HS Prannoy of India 21-17, 15-21, 22-20 in the quarter-finals. He played a total of 257 minutes since the first round, with an average of 64.3 minutes per match.
Highlights of Chou Tien Chen vs. Shi Yuqi:
(source: ZonaMinton)
When he was asked how much energy he had left to play in the final, Chou said, “I don’t know, you need to ask God. God gives me strength.”
Shi, on the other hand, said he made some mistakes due to exhaustion.
“Everyone is tired, but he was a little more patient than me in the end,” said Shi.
Another winner of the men’s singles semi-final, World No. 21 Kenta Nishimoto’s record was equally impressive en-routing to the final. He defeated Lakshya Sen of India 18-21, 21-14, 21-13, Jonatan Christie 15-21, 21-13, 21-18 in the second round, and Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo 14-21, 21-17, 21-18 in the quarter-finals and Anders Antonsen of Denmark 22-20, 21-19 in the semi-finals.
Nishimoto played a total of 293 minutes since the first round, with an average of 73.3 minutes per match.
“I think the longer the match takes, the better chance I have to beat Chou in the final,” said Nishimoto who felt very confident with his stamina.
In women’s singles, Taiwan’s World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying fought hard but eventually went down to An Se Young of Korea 12-21, 21-14, 13-21. An will play defending champion and the reigning World Champion, Akane Yamaguchi in the final.
After beating Chen Yufei of China in last week’s world championships final, Yamaguchi came back from 8-14 in the decider to beat Chen 15-21, 21-16, and 24-22 in the Japan Open semi-finals.
In mixed doubles, World No. 3 Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino of Japan ended World No. 2 Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong of China’s 38-match winning streak with a 21-17, 21-12, 23-21 victory over the Chinese pair. Believe it or not, the 38-match winning streak was not the longest in the history of mixed doubles. Kim Dong Moon/Ra Kyung Min of Korea created a crazy 71-match winning streak between April 8, 2003, to August 15, 2004. Nevertheless, Zheng/Huang’s record was the longest under the current scoring system.
The 2022 Japan Open semi-final was not a pleasant experience for the China team as its reigning women’s doubles world champions – Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan were shocked by World No. 32 Baek Ha Na/Lee Yu Lim 21-12, 18-21, 19-21. Baek/Lee will meet compatriots World No. 10 Jeong Na Eun/Kim Hye Jeong in the final.
In the men’s doubles final, China’s World No. 88 Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang will play World No. 8 Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark in the final. Even though Liang/Wang’s world ranking was much lower than Astrup/Rasmussen, the young Chinese pair has demonstrated their ability to take down higher ranked men’s pairs such as beating World No. 3 Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan 21-18, 21-16 in the second round, and World No. 6 Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto 21-18, 19-21, 21-16 in the quarter-finals.
