Seoul: Beaten twice this year by Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei at German Open and US Open, Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram dominated Chou at the semi-finals of Korea Open, brushing aside the No. 7 seed 21-19, 21-15 in 43 minutes to storm into the finals of the USD 600,000 event on Saturday.
Jayaram was happy with his huge win on Saturday, and told reporters that he will be ready to clash with world No. 1 Chen Long of China in the men’s singles final.
“It was a huge win for me today. I did pretty well both strategically and mentally. I was much more patient today and played well from the net,” said Jayaram.
“I will be a tough match for me tomorrow, but I will be ready and stay focused,” added Jayaram.
Top seed Chen Long of China needed 45 minutes to sweep past Kento Momota of Japan in straight-sets to advance to the final.
The Chinese took the first set 21-9, and prevailed in the second set 21-13 to showed Kento Momota how high the ceiling could be for men’s badminton.
World No. 1 men’s pair Lee Yong-dae and Yoo Yeon Seong of Korea eliminated third seeds Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen of Denmark in three sets and in just under 100 minutes, winning 23-25, 22-20, 21-17.
“It was a crazy match today against Yoo/Lee, we had the chance in second game leading 19-17, argghhh, pretty disappointed right now that we couldn´t close the match. However in the bigger picture, being close to beating Yoo/Lee on home soil, with illness in the body and lack of practice, is not bad at all”, wrote the 2012 European Champions of Denmark on their Facebook page.
Lee Yong-dae and Yoo Yeon Seong will set up an all- Korean clash with unseeded pair of Kim Gi Jung and Kim Sa Rang.
Kim and Kim takes grueling three sets to beat Chinese fourth seeds Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan, winning 12-21, 21-18, 21-17 in just 52 minutes.
