World champion Akane Yamaguchi survived a scare against Indonesian teen Komang Ayu Cahya Dewi, with the top seed pulling off a victory from an insecure position to make the quarterfinals of the Badminton Asia Championships 2022.
Yamaguchi was 14-18 down in the third against the 19-year-old, but used her greater experience and ran up five straight points to gain the edge. Although Dewi levelled at 19, Yamaguchi shot ahead in the next two rallies to take the match 21-23 21-9 22-20.
Komang Ayu Cahya Dewi.
She next faces Pornpawee Chochuwong, who too got past an Indonesian, Putri Kusuma Wardani, 21-12 21-11.
The other quarterfinal in the top half features Pusarla V Sindhu against He Bing Jiao.
Highlights
♦ Myanmar’s Thet Htar Thuzar had her chances against Hsu Wen Chi of Chinese Taipei as she overcame a 11-17 deficit in the third to inch ahead at 18-17 and sight a quarterfinals place, but two misjudgements in the deep helped her opponent take the match 21-12 13-21 21-19.
♦ Men’s doubles top seeds Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan crashed out to new combination Ren Xiang Yu/Tan Qiang, 21-9 21-15.
♦ Men’s singles third seed Lee Zii Jia overcame a late fightback from Shesar Hiren Rhustavito, who saved four match points in the second. However, the Malaysian grabbed his fifth match point and converted for a 21-14 22-20 win, which gave him a quarterfinal ticket against eighth seed Kanta Tsuneyama.
♦ Malaysian veteran Liew Daren gave Jonatan Christie a hard time, with the Indonesian fourth seed prevailing at the end of 55 minutes, 21-14 13-21 21-19.
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