Copenhagen: On Saturday, top seed Li Xuerui of China ended the run of Japanese dynamo and 16th seed Minatsi Mitani to seal a return to the women’s singles final.
World number one Li, runner-up a year ago on home soil in Guangzhou, dominated from the beginning with Mitani, sporting a heavily strapped right leg, unable to offer much resistance as Li powered to a 21-8, 21-14 victory.
Backed by vocal support from the Chinese delegation Li made quick work of Mitani, likely feeling the effects of successive grueling three-set matches, to move a step closer to adding to the Olympic crown she won at London 2012.
“Mitani is a very high-level player. We’ve played each other several times and she always fights to the last point,” said Li of her battling opponent.
“I lost the first set in two of the last three meetings. This time my coach and I prepared very well before the match.
Meanwhile, Spaniard Carolina Marin proved the better shuttler over India’s P.V. Sindhu, winning the other women’s singles semi-final in straight games at the World Badminton Championships.
The ninth-seeded Spaniard halted Sindhu’s dream to go one better this time around by taking the contest 21-17, 21-15 in 47 minutes at the 9,200-seater Ballerup Super Arena.
With the victory, the World No.10 Carolina proceeded to the summit clash where she will take on World No.1 and reigning Olympic champion Li Xuerui of China in the World Championships final.
Other BWF World Championships Semi-finals Results
Men’s Doubles
Ko Sung Hyun-Shin Baek Choel Shin (Korea) defeated Kim Ki Jung-Kim Sa Rang (Korea) Walkover
Lee Yong Dae-Yoo Yeon Seong (Korea) defeated Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen (Denmark) 21-12 21-18
Women’s Doubles
Tian Qing-Zhao Yunlei (China) defeated Lee So Hee-Shin Seung Chan (Korea) 21-13 21-10
Wang Xiaoli-Yu Yang (China) defeated Reika Kakiiwa-Miyuki Maeda (Japan) 21-8 21-13
Mixed Doubles
Zhang Nan- Zhao Yunlei (China) defeated Liu Cheng-Bao Yixin (China) 21-15 21-13
Xu Chen-Ma Jin (China) defeated Joachim Fischer Nielsen-Christinna Pedersen (Denmark) 21-15 21-9
