Changzhou: Men’s singles No. 1 seed Kento Momota of Japan and Rio Olympic champion Chen Long of China have powered through to the China Open men’s semifinals respectively, while No. 2 seed Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan has crashed out of the competition.
The Japanese World No. 1 comfortably defeated compatriot Kanta Tsuneyama 21-11, 21-9 on Friday and will play Chen Long, who outlasted Hong Kong’s Angus Ng Ka Long 21-13, 21-13 in the quarter-finals.
Chen Long extended his career winning record over Ng to 4-2 after Friday’s victory.
“I played Ng in the Basel World Championships, that was an intense competition and fortunately I was able to win 2-1,” said Chen.
“I was really focused today, and managed to play well early of both sets,” added Chen.
The No. 5 seed Chen said he was eager to meet Kento Momota on Saturday.
“I have not play Momota for a long time, actually, I am quite looking forward to the semifinal match against him,” said Chen.
In another men’s singles quarter-final match, No. 2 seed Chou Tien Chen was stunned by Anders Antonsen of Denmark 17-21, 11-21.
Meanwhile, both Malaysia’s men’s doubles pairs were knocked out of the quarter-finals on Friday.
Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi put up a spirited challenge against No. 3 seeds Li Jun Hui/Liu Yu Chen of China, before going down 21-16, 20-22, 20-22. Another Malaysian pair Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong was knocked out by No. 1 seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia, losing 15-21, 17-21.
