Koki Watanabe
It was another day of upsets with world number two Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand among the casualties at the Kumamoto Masters Japan badminton championships.
Japan’s Koki Watanabe edged out the Kunlavut in an epic 77-minute semi-final battle. After a closely fought third game, Watanabe clinched the contest 14-21, 21-11, 23-21.
It was his third victory over Kunlavut in eight meetings and his first over the Thai since the Denmark Open two years ago. Watanabe had lost to Kunlavut in both his previous two meetings at the Indian Open and Malaysian Open earlier this year.
It will be the second career final in Japan for Watanabe after also having lost to Frenchman Christo Popov for the Japan Open final earlier this year.
He is searching for his fourth BWF Tour title and his first since winning the Canada Open two years ago.
This time his opponent in the final will be newly crowned Hylo Open champion Lakshya Sen of India.
Lakshya seems to be back at his best, despite having to toil for 70-minutes before overcoming Indonesian youngster Alwi Farhan 21-12, 15-21, 21-11 in his semi-final tie.
Watanabe had beaten Lakshya at the Japan Open in July as well as the Singapore Open in May.
The duo last met at the Kumamoto Master first round last year with Lakshya carving out a straight game win. Watanabe will be looking to avenge the defeat this time around.
The women’s singles final will pit the top two seeds – Akane Yamaguchi of Japan and China’s Wang Zhiyi.
Yamaguchi, attempting to win the title in the absence of arch-rival An Se-young of Korea, saw her semi-final opponent Chen Yufei of China retiring with the Japanese leading 18-21, 21-8, 11-4.
As for second seeded Zhiyi she was clinical in her 21-10, 21-15 win over Japanese Tomoka Miyazaki.
SEMI-FINAL RESULTS
Men’s singles: Lakshya Sen (Ind) bt Alwi Farhan (Ina) 21-12, 15-21, 21-11; Koki Watanabe (Jpn) bt Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Tha) 14-21, 21-11, 23-21
Men’s doubles: Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (Jpn) bt Wang Chang-Xie Haonan (Chn) 21-15, 19-21, 21-17; Aaron Tai-Yap Roy King (Mas) bt Daniel Lundgaard-Mads Vestergaard (Den) 21-18, 21-18
Women’s singles: Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) bt Chen Yufei (Chn) 18-21, 21-8, 11-4 retired; Wang Zhiyi (Chn) bt Tomoka Miyazaki (Jpn) 21-10, 21-15
Women’s doubles: Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi (Jpn) bt Kim Hye-jeong-Lee Yeon-woo (Kor) 21-13, 21-19; Ririna Hiramoto-Chiharu Shida (Jpn) bt Hsu Yin-hui-Lin Jhih Yun (Tpe) 23-21, 21-15
Mixed doubles: Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin (Chn) bt Yuta Watanabe-Maya Taguchi (Jpn) 21-9, 21-17; Gao Jiaxuan-Wu Mengying (Chn) bt Akira Koga-Natsu Saito (Jpn) 19-21, 21-7, 21-18
