Taiwan’s Cheng Shao-chieh (鄭韶婕) defeated Kim Moon-hi of South Korea in straight sets yesterday in the second round of the women’s competition at the Yonex Open badminton tournament in Taipei.

Although Cheng faced a much taller player, she defeated Kim easily to advance to the quarter-finals. Cheng, who had never played Kim before, won a cautious first set 21-19.

Cheng managed to read Kim’s play in the second set, which she won with a convincing 21-12 as she kept her South Korean opponent moving around the court throughout the second half of the set.

Cheng described the match as being “in the basement and playing someone on the third floor,” saying Kim was the tallest opponent she had ever played.

She said that although Kim’s shuttles were fast, they were not very powerful and her responses were not very flexible.

Taiwan’s Hsu Ya-ching (許雅晴), who upset No. 7 seed Megumi Taruno of Japan 19-21, 21-19, 21-13 on Wednesday, continued her run by defeating Singapore’s Chen Jieyuan (陳介元) 12-21, 23-21, 21-16 to join Cheng in the quarter-finals.

In the men’s tournament, ninth-seed Hsieh Yu-hsing (謝裕興) lost to Thailand’s Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk 17-21, 21-17, 20-22. The only remaining Taiwanese male player is Liu Chih-lun (劉治倫), who defeated his compatriot Chen Chih-hao (陳志豪) 21-8, 25-23.
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