Hong Kong: Taiwan’s World No. 2 men’s singles player fought back from a set down to triumph over Parupalli Kashyap of India in a one-hour battle to advance to Hong Kong Open quarter-finals.
After defeated Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan in three-set on Wednesday, Chou got off to slow start by losing to Kashyap in the first set of their second round face-off 12-21.
Chou was trailed by 3 points most of the second set, before saving 3 match point to force a decider by coming from 17-20 to take the second set 23-21.
The Taiwanese managed to control the rhythm and tempo in the decider, beating the Indian 21-10 to set up a quarter-final meeting with Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia.
“Kashyap has done a lot of homework about me. Many of his shots were hard to defense and it’s hard for me to launch attacks too. He controlled the rhythm rather well,” said Chou.
Chou also thanked the support from the Hong Kong fans who motivated him to win the match.
Meanwhile, 22-year-old Anders Antonsen of Denmark came out winner against Lin Dan of China in the men’s singles second round, winning 21-14, 21-11 in 49 minutes.
“I used to watch Lin Dan play when I was growing up. I have great respect for him. When he was young, Lin Dan was very explosive and powerful. In recent years, he switched to a more skillful playing style,” said Antonsen.
“Playing against player like Lin Dan, you can’t think too much, you should just focus on taking care of every single shot,” added Antonsen.
Antonsen will meet Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the last eight.
