Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee upset Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan
The All-England Open badminton championships continued to provide the shocks as several seeds were shown the exits in the semi-finals.
In the women’s doubles, second seeds Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan were denied a first All-England final appearance by the Korean duo of Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee. The Koreans fourth seeds came out 21-17, 21-18 victors.
They will be up against top seeds Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning who were given a mighty scare by their their Chinese teammates Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian in their semi-final tie. The top seeds scrambled to a 18-21, 21-17, 22-20 win after a 90-minute battle.
Unseeded Ye Hong Wei-Nicole Gonzales Chan of Chinese Taipei continued their fairy tale run in the mixed doubles. The duo came back from an opening game loss to stun seventh seeds Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying of Hong Kong 16-21, 21-15, 21-13.
They will play the French duo of Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue in the final. The fifth seeded Europeans defeated China’s Guo Xinwa-Chen Fanghui 11-21, 21-18,21-12 in their semi-finals.
Earlier, in the men’s singles semi-finals, Taiwanese Lin Chun-yi battled past second seeded Kunlavut Vitidsarn 21-14, 18-21, 21-16.
The hard-earned victory sees Chun-yi in his biggest final of his career.
Vitidsarn, the 2023 world champion and Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist, had defeated Indonesia’s Alwi Farhan in straight games to make the last four, but he struggled early on against World No. 11 Chunyi, losing the first game 21-14.
The Thai shuttler recovered to win a close second game 21-18 before succumbing to a 21-16 defeat in the decider.
The 26-year-old Chunyi will now face India’s World No. 12 Lakshya Sen in the final, after he overcame Canada’s Victor Lai 21-16, 18-21, 21-15 in the day’s other semi-final to keep alive his fairytale run in the competition.
World No. 12 Lakshya had overcame severe cramps in the final game of the match that stretched to an hour and 37 minutes. It will be his second All-England final, having also made the 2022 final, losing to Victor Axelsen.
SEMI-FINAL RESULTS
Men’ singles: Lin Chun-yi (Tpe) bt Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Tha) 21-14, 18-21, 21-16; Lakshya Sen (Ind) bt Victor Lai (Can) 21-16, 18-21, 21-15
Men’s doubles: Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (Mas) bt Chen Boyang-Liu Yi (Chn) 21-11, 21-19; Kim Won-ho-Seo Seung-jae (Kor) bt Raymond Indra-Nikolaus Joaquin (Ina) 21-19, 21-13
Women’s singles: An Se-young (Kor) bt Chen Yufei (Chn) 20-22, 21-9, 21-12; Wang Zhiyi (Chn) bt Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) 21-15, 21-19
Women’s doubles: Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee (Kor) bt Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan (Mas) 21-17, 21-18; Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning (Chn) bt Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian (Chn) 18-21, 21-17, 22-20
Mixed doubles: Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue (Fra) bt Guo Xinwa-Chen Fanghui (Chn) 11-21, 21-18, 21-12; Ye Hong Wei-Nicole Gonzales Chan (Tpe) bt Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet (Hkg) 16-21, 21-15, 21-13
