Fuzhou: Japan’s World number one men’s singles player Kento Momota overcame a spirited challenge from Viktor Axelsen of Denmark 21-18, 12-21, 21-16 on Friday before seeing off another Denmark player, Rasmus Gemke 21-19, 21-8 on Saturday to enter the Fuzhou China Open final.
Momota looked exhausted after his 78-minute battle with Axelsen, and was trailed 12-18 in the first set against Gemke. Nevertheless, the Japanese managed to regroup and readjust his strategy to score the next 10 out of 11 points, rallying from behind to win the first set 21-19.
The second set was completely one-sided as Momota quickly wrapped up the game against the demoralized Gemke 21-8.
Momota will meet Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan in the final on Sunday. The No 2 seed Chou outlasted No. 4 seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark 21-10, 21-12 in the last four.
World No. 1 men’s pair Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia will be hunting for their 8th title of the season on Sunday as they face No. 4 seeds Takeshi Kamura/Keigo Sonoda of Japan in the final.
Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo defeated Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty of India 21-16, 22-20 while Takeshi Kamura/Keigo Sonoda registered their second career win over Malaysia’s Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik 21-13, 21-14 in the semi-final.
