Three-time world champion continued her dominance over India\u2019s P.V. Sindhu to qualify for the women\u2019s singles finals of the Australian Open badminton championships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yamaguchi carved out her eighth straight victory over her rival with a 22-20, 21-12 semi-final win and into her fourth consecutive final on the circuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Japanese veteran had had a remarkable month-long surge that shows no signs of slowing. After lifting the Thailand Open four weeks ago, Yamaguchi made both the Singapore and Indonesian Open finals prior to her trip to Sydney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was, however, beaten by Korean superstar An Se-young in the last two final appearances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She has been in impressive form here, without dropping a game all week to extend her unbeaten streak against Sindhudating back to 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After surviving a close opening game, Yamaguchi tightened her grip on the contest with her trademark defensive excellence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy defence worked so I was able to effectively utilise that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 29-year-old also revealed a tactical adjustment that has paid dividends in recent weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRecently, I\u2019ve been aiming for the body to induce errors. That has been working so I made use of the body shot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With another title opportunity awaiting, Yamaguchi is eager to continue her upward trajectory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRecently, my play has been improving and my results are gradually getting better, so I\u2019m looking forward to playing another final tomorrow,\u201d she said, adding: \u201cOf course I\u2019m tired but I don\u2019t think my condition is bad either.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Standing between Yamaguchi and the title is Thai youngster Pornpawee Chochuwong, who denied an all-Japanese final by overcoming 2017 champion Nozomi Okuhara 21-18 11-21 21-12 in 66 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second seed will contest her first final since finishing runner-up at the Thailand Open in May last year and keeps alive Thailand\u2019s quest for a maiden Australian Open women\u2019s singles champion. The nation\u2019s last finalist in the discipline was Nitchaon Jindapol in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI just focused on my good points, and no matter what, I fight on court,\u201d said Chochuwong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn the last few months, maybe my confidence wasn\u2019t quite there because I was just coming back from injury. Today, I had more belief in my body and that helped me take the win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI wanted to fight because everyone knows Nozomi is a world champion. She never gives up, so I had to do the same.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In men\u2019s singles, unheralded Dong Tianyao is one match from completing a fairytale week. The Chinese youngster defeated Indonesian Moh. Zaki Ubaidillah 21-19 9-21 21-18 to set up a final against third seed Alwi Farhan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alwi, the reigning SEA Games champion defeated Hong Kong\u2019s Jason Gunawan 21-11, 17-21, 21-9 in his semi-finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Top ranked mixed doubles pair pf Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping of China were pushed by Americans Presley Smith-Jennie Gai to three games before reaching their first final since January\u2019s Malaysia Open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China are assured of the title as they will take one compatriots Guo Xinwa-Chen Fanghui in the final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the women\u2019s doubles, another Chinese duo Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian ended the reign of defending champions Rachel Allessya Rose-Febi Setianingrum of Indonesia. They face last year\u2019s runners-up Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma-Meilysa Trias Puspitasari, also from Indonesia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It will be the season\u2019s first men\u2019s doubles title bout for Sabar Karyaman Gutama-Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani after the Indonesians came through a 21-18 19-21 23-21 thriller against Chen Cheng Kuan-Liu Kuang Heng of Chinese Taipei.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They play China\u2019s Chen Boyang-Liu Yi, who upset second seeded teammates Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang 21-12, 21-18 in their semi-finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SEMI-FINAL RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Men\u2019s singles: <\/strong>Alwi Farhan (Ina) bt Jason Gunawan (Hkg) 21-11, 17-21, 21-9; Dong Tianyao (Chn) bt Moh. Zaki Ubaidillah (Ina) 21-19, 9-21, 21-18<\/p>\n\n\n\n Men\u2019s doubles: <\/strong>Chen Boyang-Liu Yi (Chn) bt Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang (Chn) 21-12, 21-18; Sabar Karyaman Gutama-Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani (Ina) 21-18, 19-21, 22-21<\/p>\n\n\n\n Women\u2019s singles: <\/strong>Pornpawee Chochuwong (Tha) bt Nozmi Okuhara (Jpn) 21-8, 11-21, 21-12; Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) bt P.V. Sindhu (Ind) 22-20, 21-12<\/p>\n\n\n\n Women\u2019s doubles: <\/strong>Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma-Meilysa Trias Puspitasari (Ina) bt Hsu Yin-Hui-Lin Jhih Yun (Tpe) 15-21, 21-14, 21-10; Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian (Chn) bt Rachel Allessya Rose-Febi Setianingrum (Ina) 21-16, 20-22, 21-16<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mixed doubles: <\/strong>Guo Xinwa-Chen Fanghui (Chn) bt Ruttanapak Oupthong-Jhenicha Sudjaipraoarat (Tha) 21-9, 19-21, 21-17; Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping (Chn) bt Presley Smith-JGai (USA) 21-16, 18-21, 21-7<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Three-time world champion continued her dominance over India\u2019s P.V. Sindhu to qualify for the women\u2019s singles finals of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[75],"class_list":["post-13760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-badminton"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Akane-Yamaguchi-.jpg",1094,615,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Akane-Yamaguchi--150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Akane-Yamaguchi--300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Akane-Yamaguchi--768x432.jpg",640,360,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Akane-Yamaguchi--1024x576.jpg",640,360,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Akane-Yamaguchi-.jpg",1094,615,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Akane-Yamaguchi-.jpg",1094,615,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Akane-Yamaguchi--825x575.jpg",825,575,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Akane-Yamaguchi--590x410.jpg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Newsbeat<\/a>","tag_info":"Newsbeat","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Akane-Yamaguchi-.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13760"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13761,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13760\/revisions\/13761"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}