Semi-finals: “On the wire”
Terrific suspense during then Women's Singles semifinals
Wonderful show today in the women singles draw with two emotional semifinals. First on court today, TAI Tzu Ying (n°3, Chinese Taipei) is facing the world number one AN Se Young (South Korea). As the Korean took the first game 21/12, the 2023 Asia championships winner fights back 21/17: 1 game all. The historical deciding game, the Taiwanese is leading 20/16. However, AN Se Young finds the way to come back and takes the first ticket to the final: 21/12 17/21 22/20. AN Se Young: « I put the pressure aside at the end. I am not in the best shape, far from 100%. But I prepared well to hopefully overcome difficulties and be competitive in what I managed to do today.». Tomorrow, she will face Akane YAMAGUCHI (n°4, Japan). The two-time French Open winner also had a ferocious match to play against CHEN Yu Fei (n°3, China). A 73-minute fight resulting in another final for YAMAGUCHI here in France: 21/15 18/21 22/20.
Mixed doubles: Top seeds did the job
In the mixed double semifinals, the world Champion SEO Seung Jae and CHAE Yu Jung (n°3, South Korea) defeats Dechapol PUAVARANUKROH and Sapsiree TAERATTANACHAI (n°6, Thailand) even though the Thais were leading all along the match 21/18 21/16. They will face FENG Yan Zhe and HUANG Dong Ping (n°4, China) in the tomorrow’s final. The Olympic champion have to battle against their country fellows JIANG Zhen Bang/WEI Ya Xin (n°5): 21/19 10/21 21/12. An important result for them in the Olympic race in which they are fighting against this same pair.
Women's doubles: China vs Japan ended with a draw
The women's doubles draw featured two China-Japan clashes in Saturday's semi-finals. The land of the rising sun won the first round with the victory of the pair Nami MATSUYAMA/Chiharu SHIDA (n°6, Japan) over the young titleholders LIU Sheng Shu and TAN Ning (n°3, China) in two sets (21/15 21/19). China got their revenge in the second match thanks to world n°1 CHEN Qing Chen and JIA Yi Fan, already winners in Paris in 2016. They beat Mayu MATSUMOTO and Wakana NAGAHARA (n°8, Japan) in two sets (21/13 21/16) in a one-sided match. The tie-break between the two nations will therefore be decided tomorrow between the day's winners for a 15th encounter.
Men's singles: SHI and VITIDSARN set the record straight
In the men singles draw, two underdogs made it all the way to the semi-finals, defeating the competition's top seeds. Spurred on by a French public eager to see David defeat Goliath, they still were defeated at the end of a fine week. World champion Kunlavut VITIDSARN (n°8, Thailand) got out of the Lakshya SEN trap (n°19, India) in 3 sets (20/22 21/13 21/11). For his part, SHI Yu Qi (n°2, China) put an end in two sets (21/19 21/14) to the Chico Aura DWI WARDOYO (n°32) saga, who had defeated Denmark's Anders ANTONSEN (n°3) and Japan's Kodai NARAOKA (n°6). The final will pit the reigning world champion against the man in form at the moment, providing a great spectacle at the adidas arena on Sunday.
Men's doubles: RANKIREDDY/SHETTY will aim to retake their crown
In a summit duel between the world's top two pairs, India's RANKIREDDY and SHETTY (No.1) took revenge on Korean world champions KANG and SEO (No.2) following their defeat in the final of the Indian Open last January. Winners in two sets (21/13 21/16), the 2022 edition winners, gave their opponents no chance, eager to show that they are the circuit's bosses. The other semi-final pitted Japan's Takuro HOKI/Yugo KOBAYASHI (n°6) against the pair LEE Jhe-Huei/YANG Po-Hsuan (n°16, Taipei). The match went down to the wire, but the Taipei players made the difference in the key moments to reach the final (21/18 23/21) and believe in a feat on Sunday in what promises to be an explosive final.
We will see you tomorrow for the finals at 11h30, TV Broadcast will be available on BWF TV (YouTube channel).