Taiwan's top men's singles badminton player Chou Tien-chen (???) reached his first final at the BWF Japan Open on Saturday, after outdueling Shi Yuqi (???) of China in their semifinal matchup.
World No. 6 Chou advanced to the final after outdueling World No. 22 Shi 15-21, 21-19, 21-12 in a come-from-behind win in 72 minutes at the Super 750 tournament at Maruzen Intec Arena Osaka.
In his first-ever Japan Open final, Chou will take on world No. 21 Kenta Nishimoto of Japan. During his semifinal match on Saturday, Shi clinched the first game 15-21 before Chou forced a decider by winning the second game 21-19.
In the rubber, Chou was in front 12-10 before reeling in six consecutive points to shoot ahead 18-10.
After giving up the next point, Chou pocketed the next two points to find match point opportunity at 20-11.
From there, Shi saved the first match point but failed to save the second match point as he was unable to get to the near side of the net in time to return Chou's shot, which won the match 21-12.
Despite the defeat, Shi still holds an edge in their head-to-head meetings by beating Chou five times in eight games.
Meanwhile, Taiwan's women's singles World No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying (???) had a bad day at the office as she lost 12-21, 21-14, 13-21 to World No. 4 An Se-young of South Korea in their semifinal match that lasted 53 minutes.
The Japan Open, being held Aug. 30-Sept. 4 at the Maruzen Intec Arena Osaka, carries a total purse of US$750,000 (NT$22.970 million).
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel