CHANGZHOU, China, Sept. 20 -- Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain defeated China's He Bingjiao to move into the women's singles semifinals of the 2019 Badminton China Open here on Friday.
Seventh seed He won the first set 21-11 but Marin fought back to take the second 21-14 and build up a huge lead from the very beginning of the third set. He then scored seven points in a row to tie the game 12-12 before the Spanish finally took the set 21-15.
"I have to control the shuttlecock a lot in the first set because of the wind," explained Marin. "Once we changed sides, I changed my game plan against her: don't make mistakes and do a lot of running. So she got tired."
The 26-year-old suffered a broken cruciate ligament in her right knee while playing in the final of the Indonesian Masters in January this year and just came back onto the court this month.
"I feel I'm improving. The most important thing is that I have so much confidence in my name," said the three-time and reigning world champion. "I don't feel any pain, so I just want to keep improving my game."
World No. 7 He, who rated her performance a 7 out of 10, and also gave a compliment to Marin. "She played as well as before. I could feel her patience and confidence," she said.
Marin will next face Sayaka Takahashi of Japan, who unexpectedly knocked out sixth-seeded Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand.