Jakarta: Top-ranked Carolina Marin advanced to the World Championships semi-finals Friday noon, beating 7th-seeded Wang Shixian of China 21-17, 21-19.
The Spaniard showed no sign of the ankle injury she incurred on Thursday and kept her cool even as Wang put her through her paces in the second game.
Marin will next face ninth-seeded Korean Sung Ji-Hyun who fought tooth and nail to come back and beat India`s P.V. Sindhu 21-17, 19-21, 21-16 in 82 minutes.
“I don`t care if it`s going to be Sung Ji-Hyun or Sindhu, let see who will win,” said a confident Marin prior to the match between Sung Ji-Hyun and P.V. Sindhu.
No. 2 seed Saina Nehwal saw off a gritty challenge from sixth seed Wang Yihan to win 21-15, 19-21, 21-19 in the women’s quarter-finals. Saina will take on Indonesian Lindaweni Fanetri on Saturday.
After Wang Yihan and Wang Shixian’s exits at the 2015 World Championships, it’s worth mentioning that for the first time in 32 years, Chinese women’s singles players have missed out on the semi-finals at world championships, have lost 3 consecutive women’s world champion titles, and did not win any women’s worlds’ title in a complete Olympics cycle.
Playing in front of a big home crowd, Indonesia’s unseeded shuttler Lindaweni Fanetri continued her Cinderella tournament run at the world championships when she shocked fourth seed Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan on Friday. Riding the roaring support of a large home crowd, Lindaweni Fanetri shrugged off her sluggish start before hitting back to win 14-21, 22-20, 21-12 the match in 69 minutes.
Malaysian women’s doubles pair who Amelia Alicia Anscelly/Soong Fie Cho who stunned top seeds Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi of Japan in the 3rd round, couldn’t reproduce their best form on Friday, when they were smashed into pieces by home favorites Nitya Krishinda Maheswari/Greysia Polii, losing 21-11, 21-11 in 38 minutes. The Indonesian pair will clash with No. 5 seeds Tian Qing/Zhao Yunlei on Saturday.
Meanwhile, unseeded Japanese pair Naoko Fukuman and Kurumi Yonao, who dismissed the second-ranked Chinese pair Luo Ying/Luo Yu on Thursday, continued their rampage in the women`s doubles with a 25-23, 21-14 win over 13th seeded Indian pair Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa. Naoko Fukuman and Kurumi Yonao will have to put on another commanding performance against Christinna Pedersen/Kamilla Rytter Juhl of Denmark in the semi-finals if they are looking to seal a berth in the final.
