Bangkok: World No. 1 women’s singles player Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan secured a spot in the semi-finals of the 2020 BWF World Tour Finals as she bounced back from her shock defeat to Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong on Thursday to beat Thailand’s third-seeded Ratchanok Intanon 23-25, 21-12, 21-9 to advance to the last four.
Tai will play An Se Young of Korea who defeated Olympic champion, Carolina Marin of Spain 21-16, 14-21, 21-19. Marin, who was looking for her third consecutive titles after winning the past two tournaments in Bangkok, will take on Pornpawee Chochuwong on Saturday.
“I’m happy for my victory today,” said the 18-year-old An Se Young after her win over Marin.
“I have learned a lot from Marin and I have applied those things in today’s match,” added An.
In men’s singles, World No. 4 Viktor Axelsen topped Group A after seeing off Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan 21-10, 21-14. Both players were drawn to face each other again in the semi-finals. In other men’s singles semi-finals, another Taiwanese player – Wang Tzu-Wei was ranked top of Group B after overcoming Anders Antonsen of Denmark 21-11, 21-19 on Friday. Both Wang and Antonsen will meet again on Saturday.
The top-seeded Taiwanese men’s pair Lee Yang/Wang Chi-lin continued their winning streak throughout the 3-back-to-back tournaments in Bangkok with a 21-17, 21-13 victory over England’s Marcus Ellis/Chris Langridge.
Lee/Wang finished number one of Group A and will set up a rematch with another English men’s pair Ben Lane/Sean Vendy whom they defeated in the second Group A match on Thursday in the semi-finals.
Another men’s doubles semi-finals will be between Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia and Choi Solgyu/Seo Seung Jae of Korea.
