Calgary: The No. 14 seed Lee Chong Wei had to work hard against No. 6 seed Japanese Takuma Ueda on Saturday before booking his place in the Canada Open men’s singles final. After going down 16-21 in the first game, the Malaysian shuttler upped the tempo to take the second game 21-10. Lee got out to a huge lead with a 12-2 score in the third set before the Japanese started to close the gap by scoring few points here or there. Playing some aggressive badminton, Lee Chong Wei eventually pushing through to win the third set by routing Takuma Ueda 21-12 to earn a men’s singles final berth. The whole match lasted 57 minutes, and it was the third consecutive match that Lee Chong Wei was stretched into a rubber game.
Angus Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong pulled off the biggest upset of the day in men’s singles category where he defeated top seed Marc Zwiebler 21-17, 21-15 in 36 minutes. Angus Ng Ka Long will play Lee Chong Wei for the Canada Open title on Sunday.
Having fought a tremendous tooth-and-nail match in an intense and dramatic mixed doubles semi-final, Andrei Adistia/Vita Marissa of Indonesia battled from the brink of defeat to power past top seeds Michael Fuchs/Birgit Michels of Germany 21-12, 16-21, 24-22 in 51 minutes and will meet second seeds Reginald Lee Chun Hei/Chau Hoi Wah of Hong Kong in the final.
Malaysia’s independent men’s doubles pair Hoon Thien How/Lim Khim Wah has crashed out of Canada Open on Saturday when the duo fell to Huang Kaixiang/Wang Sijie of China in the semi-finals, losing 18-21, 21-18, 15-21. Huang/Wang will clash with compatriots fifth seeds Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen on Sunday.
The women’s doubles top seeds Eefje Muskens/Selena Piek of Netherlands recovered from losing the second set and survived a nerve-wracking third set to overcome Poon Lok Yan/Tse Ying Suet of Hong Kong with 21-16, 18-21, 21-16 to set up a fight with third seeds Jwala Gutta/Ashwini Ponnappa of India in the final.
Michelle Li of Canada brought cheer to the home fans after she escaped with ‘very tough’ semi-final victory against fifth seed Minatsu Mitani of Japan 13-21, 21-17, 21-13. Michelle Li and unseeded Kaori Imabeppu of Japan will battle it out for the Canada Open women’s singles title on Sunday.
