Odense: Playing at just his third tournament after returning from a 10-month suspension handed by the Chinese Badminton Association last October, World No. 44 Shi Yuqi faced his toughest match so far at the 2022 Denmark Open as he was pushed all the way by Japan’s World No. 24 Kodai Naraoka before surviving a match-point to beat the 21-year-old Japanese 21-15, 9-21, 24-22 in the men’s singles semi-final that lasted 77 minutes.
Shi had a great start and led by as many as 7-1 in the decider. Then, Naraoka called a medical time-out when he was trailing 1-7 saying his eyes were hit by the shuttlecock. The momentum was completely shifted in favor of Naraoka after the medical time-out, and the Japanese slowly clawed his way back into contention. Naraoka saved two match points, coming back from 18-20 to have the match point of his own at 21-20, but Shi was calm and composed and kept attacking the right baseline of Naraoka. Shi eventually scored the match point and dropped his racket to celebrate the hard-fought victory when a Naraoka’s cross-court drop-shot found the net.
Shi will play Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia in the final. This will be Shi’s first final in three years. His last final was at the 2019 Macau Open when he lost to Sitthikom Thammasin of Thailand 21–12, 14–21, and 7–21.
Meanwhile, Lee Zii Jia was trying not to give too many net shots to Loh Kean Yew in the other men’s singles semi-final match, having been able to defend strong smashes from Loh to finally marched into his third final of the year.
Lee was in control for the majority of the second game to eventually beat Loh 21-18, 21-15 in 39 minutes.
“I am disappointed in myself, but I did whatever I can, but things didn’t go as planned,” said Loh.
“Overall, I think my performance in Denmark this week was quite good, but sadly it didn’t end well. I need to work on my mental aspect a lot, I need to be confident,” added Loh.
Lee Zii Jia talked about the semi-final match:
“I am happy to enter my first Denmark Open final,” said Lee after the match.
“I was just trying to stay calm and patient,” added Lee.
“I’ll bring my best performance in the final,” continued Lee.
In the men’s doubles event, the former World No. 1 Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo seemed to have slowly regained the form that made them one of the greatest men’s doubles pairs in the world as they beat reigning World Champions Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik 21-17, 13-21, 21-17. Although Chia/Soh lost the match, one thing for sure was they looked very confident playing against “the Minions” compared to their previous few head-to-head encounters.
Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik vs. Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo
Gideon/Sukamuljo will set up an all-Indonesian final with compatriots Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto in the final. Alfian/Ardianto came back from 8-13, 12-17 in the second game to edge past Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi of Malaysia 21-16, 22-20.
The women’s singles final saw Chen Yufei of China play compatriot He Bingjiao on Sunday, while Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan of China will meet Baek Ha Na/Lee So Hee of Korea in the women’s doubles final.
The mixed doubles final is going to be an interesting match-up between the Tokyo Olympics runners-up Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong and the Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Huang Dong Ping, but with her new partner, Feng Yan Zhe. Huang and her regular mixed doubles partner Wang Yilyu have been struggling this season, the Chinese Badminton Association decided to split them up temporarily and paired them with different players with the hope of re-igniting their passion and rejuvenating their career.
