Tokyo: The 2017 World Champion Viktor Axelsen produced some of his best badminton to advance in straight sets against World No. 6 Anthony Ginting Sinisuka of Indonesia 21-10, 21-10 in the quarter-finals of 2022 World Championships on Friday.
Axelsen who won the 2017 edition, will play World No. 4, Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan, for a final berth.
Chou, on the other hand, put on a powerful display by saving 5 match points and coming back from 15-20 in the decider to beat World No. 7 Jonatan Christie 14-21, 21-11, 22-20.
Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand and Zhao Jun Peng from China will play each other in another men’s semi-final match.
In men’s doubles, Malaysia’s World No. 6 Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik dominated their quarter-final match against World No. 11 Choi Sol Gyu/Seo Seung Jae when they beat the Korean pair 21-18, 21-16.
“The key to today’s victory was ourselves, we were focused and were able to put pressure on our opponents. The victory in the first set gave us the confidence to win the second set,” said Soh.
Chia/Soh will get a chance to break their semi-final jinx on Saturday when they meet World No. 7 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty of India in the semi-finals.
Chia/Soh have been having problems getting past the semi-finals as they already experienced five semi-final defeats in 2022 and were only able to advance to the final at the Badminton Asia Championships (BAC).
“We are getting better but still need to continue to show improvement, especially from a consistency point of view. I hope we can overcome the obstacles this time,” said Chia.
Meanwhile, Rankireddy/Shetty pulled off an upset by beating the defending champions – Takura Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi of Japan 24-22, 15-21, 21-14 in another quarter-final clash.
Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan and Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto will set up an all-Indonesian battle in another men’s doubles semis.
In women’s singles, Tai Tzu Ying and Chen Yu Fei will set up their 24th face-to-face clash on Saturday when both will meet in the semi-finals of the World Championships. The women’s singles defending champion – Akane Yamaguchi of Japan will play An Se Young of Korea for a final berth.
Here are the semi-final matches for women’s doubles and mixed doubles:
Women’s Doubles:
Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan vs. Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara
Kim So Yeong/Kong Hee Yong vs. Puttita Supajirakul/Sapsiree Taerattanachai
Mixed Doubles:
Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino vs. Mark Lamsfuss/Isabel Lohau
Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong vs. Wang Yi Lyu/Huang Dong Ping
