JAKARTA, July 7 -- Badminton World Federation No. 5 women's singles shuttler Chen Yufei advanced to the final of the 2018 Indonesia Open after she outplayed South Korea's Sung Ji Hyun in a thrilling semifinal match here on Saturday that lasted more than one hour.
Meanwhile, in the semifinals of the women's singles, women's doubles, men's singles and mixed doubles, Chinese players failed to secure berths in the final matches.
After losing the first game, Chen Yufei came back magnificently to defeat her South Korean opponent with scores of 21-23, 21-18 and 23-21.
"I do not want to surrender. I want to stay in the tournament. The wind was giving me a bit more advantage that eventually helped me win the match," Chen said at a press conference at Jakarta's landmark badminton stadium of Istora Senayan.
Recalling her loss in the 2017 Indonesia Open against a non-seeded local player in a qualifying match, Chen said that she is now more mature in playing the game.
"It can be said that I am now more mature in all aspects. I often improvise as well." she said.
In the final match, Chen Yufei will take on 2016 champion Tai Tzu Ying from Chinese Taipei, who routed Chen's compatriot He Bingjiao in two games with scores of 21-13 and 21-18.
In the men's singles semifinal, Shi Yuqi failed to reach the final after being defeated by world champion Viktor Axelsen from Denmark in three games.
Shi managed to win the first game in the match, but eventually he was outclassed by the No. 1 Danish shuttler, with the final scores being 18-21, 21-14 and 21-11 in favor of Axelsen.
Meanwhile, in the previous women's doubles match, the No. 1 Chinese shuttlers Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan lost to the Japanese pairing of Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara, who defeated the Chinese pair with scores of 21-13 and 21-18.
Indonesia has locked out two final berths in the mixed doubles and men's doubles categories, with Tontowi Ahmad and Lilyana Natsir competing in the mixed doubles, and Marcus Fernando Gideon and Kevin Sanjay Sukamuljo in the men's doubles.
They obtained their final berths after semifinal clashes against fellow Indonesians.
The Indonesian mixed doubles pairing will take on Malaysia's non-seeded duo of Chang Peng Son and Goh Liu Ying, who beat the Chinese pair of Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong in their semifinal match with scores of 21-18 and 21-16 in 36 minutes.
Elsewhere, the Indonesian men's doubles aces are to play Japan's Takuto Inoue and Yuki Kaneko in their final match, after they beat Liao Min Chun and Su Ching Heng of Chinese Taipei with scores of 21-13 and 21-11 in their semifinal.