LI-NING Hong Kong Open Championships continued action at the Hong Kong Coliseum with defending champion Jonatan Christie of Indonesia and reigning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen booking their places in the MEN’S SINGLES semifinals. The Paris Olympic Games winner is now on target for his first Hong Kong Open title after thrashing Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals. In the WOMEN’S SINGLES, 18-year-old Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan also proved, reaching her first semifinals in a BWF World Tour Super 500 tournament.
Suffering an unexpected first round exit last year, Axelsen returned with a strong determination to perform better in 2024. Against Chou Tien Chen whom he beat 19 times out of 23 meetings, second seed Axelsen showed no shortage of skills and confidence to repeat his success. Recovering from a slow start when was 4-6 behind, he quickly regained the lead to stay four points ahead 12-8 and easily snatched a 21-15 win in the first game.
Chou looked a bit promising when taking an early 3-0 lead in the next game, but Axelsen had the power to revert it and led 11-7 in the halfway mark. He never looked back to score his 20th victory over Chou after winning the game 21-14. Axelsen was quite happy with his performance, saying it’s important for him to “reach the semifinal as the Hong Kong Open is his first tournament after the summer Paris Olympic Games”.
“I am not too sure about my form after the Olympics but am quite happy that I can perform my own standard. I hope it will be another strong performance for tomorrow.”
He will have to compete against Anthony Ginting of Indonesia after the seventh seed defeated home favourite Jason Gunawan 2-1 in another match.
The quarterfinal clash between defending champion Jonatan Christie of Indonesia and Japan number one Kodai Naraoka poised to be one of the highlights of the night. The two players held an equal head-to-head record over their four last encounters. After a closely contested three games, Christie came out the better side with a 21-16, 12-21, 21-15 victory and will play Lei Lan Xi of China for a place in the final.
After clinching the Asian title in April, Christie found it difficult to maintain his momentum, suffering first round exits in the Singapore and Indonesia Opens while failing to qualify from the group stage in the Paris Olympics. He felt very happy after the match of making it to the semifinals in a World Tour tournament. “It’s never easy to play against Naraoka as he has know how to defend well through his neat footwork. I am so happy to reach the semifinals, thank God! Every player has to regroup his focus after the Olympics and may need to work from scratch. But for me, it’s not easy. I don’t have anything in my mind to defend the title successful in Hong Kong but more importantly I want to regain my confidence here.”
In the WOMEN’S SINGLES, upcoming Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan won through a 72-minute gruelling battle after beating former world champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand. It’s also the first time the 18 years old reached the semifinals of a Super 500 tournament.
“My target is to win today and the victory has taken a sweet revenge over Intanon after losing to her in the Thailand Masters early this year. The result can also boost my confidence which I hope to carry forward to tomorrow’s semifinal and help me win again.”
The youngster will now meet Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia for a place in the final. The latter beat Line Højmark Kjaersfeldt of Denmark 2-0 (21-13, 21-12) in another last eight clash.
However, another Japanese player Aya Ohori could not go further after losing to third seed Han Yue of China 2-1 (17-21, 21-9, 21-15). Han will now face Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand in the semifinals.
