India Open badminton | Reigning champion An Se-young serves a masterclass

An Se-young continued to be the woman to beat at the India Open Super 750.

The 23-year-old extended her winning streak against Ratchanok Intanon to 13 matches, going all the way back to 2019, with a dominant display of control and power for a 21-11, 21-7 victory on Saturday.

The South Korean will meet China’s Zhi Yi Wang in the summit clash. Zhi Yi beat Chen Yu Fei, for only the second win in 16 meetings, 21-15, 23-21 in the other semifinal.

While on paper the final will be a battle of the top two players in the world, An will be the outright favourite to defend her title.

Racing to a 6-0 lead in the opening game inside two minutes before Ratchanok could find her feet, An took a firm grip by making her opponent work hard for every point and always at least three points in the lead.

The Thai shuttler started better in the second game, sharing the first eight points equally, but once An got a hang of the drift and adapted her speed and angles accordingly, there was no comeback.

Meanwhile, Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto upset the World No. 2 Malaysian pair of World Championships silver medalists Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan 21-16, 21-13. Sheng Shu Liu and Ning Tan beat Korea’s Ha Na Baek and So Hee Lee 21-12, 17-21, 21-14 in a match once again delayed by overhead droppings.

Among the men, Jonatan Christie survived a scare before prevailing 21-18, 22-20 against Loh Kean Yew. World No. 4 Christie clawed back from a six-point deficit at 11-5 to take the lead for the first time in the opening game at 17-16 before closing it out. He managed to slow down his strokes to avoid going wide and long and controlled the net for most of his points in the second to seal the win.

Christie.
| Photo Credit:
SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

The results (semifinals): Men: Jonatan Christie (Ina) bt Loh Kean Yew (Sgp) 21-18, 22-20;

Doubles: Hiroki Midorikawa & Kyohei Yamashita (Jpn) bt Aaron Chia & Wooi Yik Soh (Mas) 21-10, 13-21, 21-11;

Women: An Se Young (Kor) bt Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) 21-11, 21-7; Zhi Yi Wang (Chn) bt Chen Yu Fei (Chn) 21-15, 23-21.

Doubles: Yuki Fukushima & Mayu Matsumoto (Jpn) bt Pearly Tan & Thinaah Muralitharan (Mas) 21-16, 21-13; Sheng Shu Liu & Ning Tan (Chn) bt Ha Na Baek & So Hee Lee (Kor) 21-12, 17-21, 21-14.

Mixed: Dechapol Puavaranukroh & Supissara Paewsampran (Tha) bt Yan Zhe Feng & Dong Ping Hong (Chn) 16-21, 21-19, 21-16;