Ratchanok Intanon booked her berth in the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Open, a BWF World Tour Super 500 event, in Kowloon yesterday.
The Thai world No.8, who is seeded sixth in Hong Kong this week, defeated Japanese arch-rival and No.2 seed Akane Yamaguchi 21-9, 21-16 to set up a last-four clash with Sung Ji-Hyun at the Hong Kong Coliseum today.
"I think it was a tough win for me. She [Yamaguchi] has a good standard," said Ratchanok. "But I just tried to play the way I wanted to play and make her to play my game."
South Korea's Sung progressed to the semis after her eighth-seed opponent He Bingjiao, the last Chinese player to crash out of the singles draw, retired while trailing 11-19 in the second game. Sung won the first game 21-13.
Sung defeated Ratchanok in straight games when the pair last met at the Indonesia Open in July.
Another Thai hope Pornpawee Chochuwong failed to advance, losing to seventh seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan 12-21, 21-16, 6-21.
Okuhara will play either top seed Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan or fifth seed Carolina Marin of Spain in the semi-finals.
Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai also made it to the last four of the mixed doubles event. The Thai world No.8 pair overcame Indonesia's Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja 21-12, 15-21, 21-13.
However compatriots Nipitphon Phuangphuapet and Savitree Amitrapai failed to progress, losing to Taiwan's Lee Yang and Hsu Ya-ching 16-21, 14-21.
In the women's doubles event, Puttita Supajirakul and Sapsiree lost to seventh seeds Lee So-Hee and Shin Seung-Chan of South Korea 21-13, 17-21, 18-21.
Meanwhile top-ranked Kento Momota knocked out Asian Games champion Jonatan Christie to reach the men's singles semi-finals after being stretched to three games for the third match in a row.
The reigning world champion found extra reserves of strength for his 22-24, 21-9, 21-9 win over Indonesia's Christie, who fell away after winning a close first game.
"I want to play for the spectators," said Japan's Momota, who beat Chinese great Lin Dan in the first round and also went the distance with countryman Kanta Tsuneyama on Thursday.
Momota will next face sixth seed Son Wan-Ho, who beat fellow South Korean Lee Dong-Keun 21-16, 21-14.
Japanese eighth seed Kenta Nishimoto also advanced, beating fourth seed Srikanth Kidambi of India 21-17, 21-13. He will meet Hong Kong's Lee Cheuk Yiu in the semis. bangkok post/afp