TOKYO, July 28 (Xinhua) — Chinese shuttlers secured five semifinal spots in four categories at the Japan Open badminton tournament here on Friday.
In the women’s singles quarterfinals, China’s He Bingjiao displayed excellent form with a convincing 21-13, 21-18 victory over Zhang Beiwen of the United States, who had upset third-seeded Chen Yufei of China in the previous round.
The fifth seed He will battle against Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia in the semifinals. Her teammate Han Yue lost 21-12, 21-19 to Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei.
Shi Yuqi, the only Chinese player to feature in the men’s singles quarterfinals, suffered an 11-21, 21-19, 21-14 defeat against Japan’s Kodai Naraoka.
In a hard-fought battle that saw a reversal of fortunes, China’s men’s doubles pair Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuanyi outpaced Akira Koga and Taichi Saito of Japan 20-22, 22-20, 21-14.
Acknowledging the substantial improvement of their opponents in speed, consistency and patience, Liu credited their success to the ability to create more attacking opportunities.
The pair face Japan’s Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi in Saturday’s semifinals.
In the women’s doubles, top-seeded Chinese pair Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan clinched their semifinal spot with a 21-19, 21-12 victory over Japan’s Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida.
In the mixed doubles, Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping defeated South Korea’s Ko Sung-hyun and Eom Hye-won 21-8, 21-17, while top seeds Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong advanced through a walkover from their opponents of Chinese Taipei.
Feng and Huang will next face Thai duo Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai, while Zheng and Huang meet Japanese pair Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino.
The Japan Open tournament will run until Sunday at Tokyo’s Yoyogi National Stadium.
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