Kenta_Nishimoto (Photo by Nardisoero)
Kenta Nishimoto and Kodai Naraoka ensured it would be an all-Japanese men’s singles final in Kumamoto with the duo making the finals at the Japan Masters in contrasting styles.
Nishimoto was forced to go the distance by India’s Lakshya Sen in his semi-finals, before prevailing 21-19, 14-21, 21-12.
The 31-year-old veteran battled for 77-minutes before getting the better of Lakshya, the Commonwealth Games champion.
Naraoka, meanwhile, had a much easier time in his 21-11, 21-12 defeat of Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tzu Wei.
The final will see two Japanese players, who ironically, have met only once before, at the China Masters in 2023. It was Naraoka who emerged victorious that time.
The match that had the entire arena at their seats edge was the women’s doubles encounter between Malaysian top seeds Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan against home favourites Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto.
The riveting match that could have gone either way was eventually won by the the Malaysian pair 24-22, 23-21 in grueling match that lasted 57 minutes.
It was sweet revenge, although it took all their might, for Pearly-Thinaah, who were beaten by Fukushima-Matsumoto in the first round of the same tournament last year.
They will play another Japanese pair, Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi, in the final.
The Japanese duo had earlier shocked second seeds Kim Hye-jong-Kong Hee-yong of Korea 21-16, 21-11 in the other semi-final.
QUARTER-FINAL RESULTS
Men’s Singles: Kenta Nishimoto (Jpn) bt Lakshya Sen (Ind) 21-19, 14-21, 21-12; Kodai Noraka (Jpn) bt Wang Tzu Wei (Tpe) 21-11, 21-12
Men’s Doubles: Hiroki Midorikawa-Kyohei Yamashita (Jpn) bt Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin (Mas) 21-12, 21-17; Kim Won Ho-Seo Seung Jae (Kor) bt Chiu Hsiang Chieh-Wang Chih Lin (Tpe) 21-19, 21-19
Women’s Singles: Gregoria Mariska Tunjung (Ina) bt Chiu Pin-chian (Tpe) 21-16, 21-14; Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) bt Nozomi Okuhara (Jpn) 21-18, 10-21, 21-14
Women’s Doubles: Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi (Jpn) bt Kim Hye Jeong-Kong Hee Yong (Kor) 21-16, 21-11; Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan (Mas) bt Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto (Jpn) 24-22, 23-21
Mixed Doubles: Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewampran (Tha) bt Akira Koga-Misaki Matsutomo (Jpn) 21-19, 21-12; Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue (Fra) bt Ye Hong Wei-Nicole Gonzales Chan (Tpe) 21-17, 21-12
