Injured Chen Long pulls out, Lee books semis spot

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KUCHING: The withdrawal of Rio Olympics gold medallist Chen Long of China from the men’s singles quarterfinals yesterday has made it easier for world number one Datuk Lee Chong Wei to win his 12th title in the Celcom Axiata Malaysia Open badminton championship.

Chen cited right wrist injury for the premature end to his campaign in Kuching.

Gifted with the walkover win, Hong Kong’s Vincent Wong Wing Ki will now play Chong Wei in today’s semi-finals.

Chong Wei, the tournament’s top seed and world number one, took 44 minutes to beat 21-year old South Korean challenger Jeong Hyeok Jin 21-11, 21-14.

“It wasn’t easy to beat the up and coming Jeong who has won in the Macau Open and Australian Open in 2015 but I didn’t give him any chances and stayed focused in my game,” he said after the match.

Chong Wei will not be undermining Vincent as he had beaten other players in this tournament and is also one of the top 10 players.

He is hoping to win the title for the 12th time as it is always his hope to win as many titles as possible before he retires.

Chong Wei’s possible rival in the final Lin Dan of China took one step nearer to that direction when the former Olympic champion and seventh seed brushed aside the challenge of Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie 21-15, 14-21 and 21-9 to set up a semis clash with fifth seed Son Wan Ho of South Korea who beat Ajay Jayaram of India 21-18, 21-14.

Meanwhile, 2016 world junior champion Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei survived a scare before recovering from the second set loss to tame China’s Sun Yu in three sets in the women’s singles quarterfinals.

Tai had taken the first set 21-11 and was frustrated by the miscalls by the line judges in the second set and that affected her game greatly and lost 20-22.

The same thing happened in the decider and she was at one stage trailing Sun by a big gap before slowly clawing back into the game.

Tai was held 17-17, 18-18, 20-20, 21-21 and 22-22 by her opponent before earning two straight points to wrap up the match which lasted one hour nine minutes.

She will play third seed South Korean Sung Ji Hyun who ousted fifth seed Sun Yu of China 21-11, 21-16.

Second seed Carolina Marin of Spain also advanced to the semi-finals after she was made to sweat by Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon before winning 21-8, 18-21, 21-12.

Her hurdle to the final is Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara who upstaged her compatriot Akana Yamaguchi, the fourth seed, 21-18, 22-20 in another quartefinal.