Anthony Sinisuka Ginting reached his second semifinal of the year after the Indonesian outplayed All England champion Li Shi Feng in an absorbing 82-minute thriller at Badminton Asia Championships 2023 in Dubai.
The Chinese world No.11 enjoyed a quick opening game and had a 17-14 lead in the second, only for Ginting to draw level. The Indonesian saved a match point to take the match to a decider, where Li built narrow leads for most of the game. Ginting stayed in the hunt, and kept his nerve during a tense end game, where he saved two more match points before converting his own fourth opportunity for a 10-21 23-21 26-24 victory.
“It was a crucial match for both of us. Overall, I’m happy with my performance. It’s a very tough match,” Ginting said.
Ginting faces Kanta Tsuneyama next, while in the top half, Loh Kean Yew takes on Lu Guang Zu.
Another close quarterfinal was in women’s singles, with Tai Tzu Ying recovering from a near-hopeless position against He Bing Jiao. The two-time champion was 6-13 down in the third but eventually caught up at 17, taking the match 14-21 21-16 21-18.
“I was here in 2017 for the Dubai World Superseries Finals. Even then a lot of Indian fans came to support me,” she told Khaleej Times.
“It’s amazing to see this kind of support again from my Indian fans.”
Tai faces world No.1 Akane Yamaguchi, who fought off defending champion Wang Zhi Yi in her quarterfinal, while in the bottom half of the draw, All England champion An Se Young takes on familiar rival Chen Yu Fei – the Olympic champion having staved off the challenge of Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in three games.
Tai staged a comeback against He.
Highlights
- Indonesia had a disappointing day, contemplating seven losses including those of Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto, Muhammad Shohibul Fikri/Bagas Maulana; Rinov Rivaldy/Pitha Haningtyas Mentari and Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma/Amalia Cahaya Pratiwi.
- On the other hand, Japan had a great day, with five players/pairs in the semifinals. Among the significant wins were Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota’s defeat of Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan; Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara’s triumph over Jeong Na Eun/Kim Hye Jeong, and Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi’s straight-games result over Fikri/Maulana.
- Olympic champions Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin made their first semifinals since the Taipei Open last July, as they powered past India Open champions Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang 21-18 15-21 21-8.
→ Results (Day 4)
→ Order of play (Day 5)
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