Taipei, Jan. 14 (CNA) Taiwan’s badminton star Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) was knocked out of the Malaysia Open by reigning world champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan on Saturday, harm by a run of unforced errors and the lack to penetrate the protection. of the Japanese.
Tai misplaced her fifth straight match to Yamaguchi, together with her fourth straight since 2021, 21-18, 21-16 in 41 minutes within the girls’s singles semifinals.
Of their earlier match, Tai misplaced to Yamaguchi 21-18, 22-20 within the finals of the season-ending 2022 HSBC BWF World Tour Finals in Bangkok final month, however the Japanese appeared extra in management on Saturday.
He led for a lot of the first recreation earlier than Tai put collectively his most convincing stretch of the match, repeatedly forcing Yamaguchi to tug even at 17 after falling 15-9.
However Tai couldn’t maintain his momentum, taking part in some unfastened factors to offer the primary recreation 21-18.
Within the second recreation, Tai performed with the drift however stayed even with Yamaguchi and went to a brief mid-game break down 11-10.
After that, Tai faltered, freely giving plenty of factors on unfastened photographs and consistently having bother studying the place his opponent was going for birdie.
At 20-12, the Taiwanese toughened his resistance to avoid wasting 4 match factors, however it was too late.
Yamaguchi will face world No. 4 and second seed An Se Younger of South Korea within the ultimate this Sunday.
The Tremendous 1000 tier Malaysia Open, which shall be held on January 10-15, is the primary cease on the HSBC BWF World Tour in 2023 and carries a complete purse of US$1.25 million.