Auckland: An inspired Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying fought back from a set down to defeat the World No. 4 Ko Sung Hyun/Kim Ha Na of Korea 21-19, 10-21, 24-22 in 68 minutes and progressed through to the mixed doubles final of the New Zealand Open badminton championships on Saturday.
The victory also helped Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying gained revenge against the Korean duo after their two consecutive defeats to the Koreans with the latest match at the first round of All-England two weeks ago. Chan/Goh will play Zheng Siwei/Li Yinhui of China for the mixed doubles title on Sunday.
“We were inconsistent that’s why we lost to them at the All-England,” said Liu Ying.
“We made a lot of mistakes in the second set, luckily we were able to regroup, regain composure and didn’t give away easy points in the third set to defeat the top seeds,” said Chan Peng Soon after the match.
Unseeded Chinese duo Zheng Siwei and Li Yinhui shocked second seeds Shin Baek-Cheol and Chae Yoo-Jung of South Korea with a marathon 22-20, 15-21, 21-18 success.
In men’s singles competition, Chinese shuttler Huang Yuxiang who stunned No. 1 seed Son Wan-Ho in the quarter-finals, will clash with Riichi Takeshita for the men’s crown on Sunday after he held his nerve to defeat Malaysia’s Teck Zhi Soo 11-21, 22-20, 21-14 on Saturday.
Meanwhile, South Korean top seed Sung Ji-hyun was barely troubled by Chiang Mei Hui of Chinese Taipei, cruising to a one-sided 21-13, 21-8 victory. Sung will square-off against Aha Ohori for the women’s title.
Japan’s unseeded Aha Ohori denied the Korean camp of an all-Korean women’s singles finals after she outlasted Sung’s compatriot and third seed Bae Yeon Ju 21-16, 21-17 to advance to the final.
It’s no surprises in the men’s doubles semi-finals, as No. 2 seeds Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Cheol registered a 21-16, 21-16 win against Indonesia’s Gideon Markus Fernaldi and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo to play another Indonesian pair, Angga Pratama and Ricky Karanda Suwardi for the New Zealand Open title.
The third seeds Angga Pratama and Ricky Karanda Suwardi cruised to the final as they overcame resilient Huang Kaixiang/Zheng Siwei of China with a 21-19, 24-22 victory.
Chang Ye-Na and partner Lee So-Hee, the number two seeds from South Korea will take on Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota of Japan in the women’s doubles final on Sunday.
