LI-NING Hong Kong Open Badminton Championships reached the final stages with the MEN’S and WOMEN’S SINGLES finalists confirmed. World number two Viktor Axelsen of Denmark lived up to expectations after beating Anthony Ginting of Indonesia 2-0 in the semifinals and will meet upcoming Lei Lan Xi of China for the gold medal. In the WOMEN’S SINGLES, third seed Han Yue of China will face Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in the final.
Two-time Olympic champion Axelsen has met Ginting 18 times before their Hong Kong clash, with the Danes holding a big margin of 13 wins and five defeats. But the Danes was beaten by Ginting 2-1when they last met in the quarterfinals of March’s All England Open. Clashing again for the first time in six months, Axelsen did not give his opponent any hopes, thrashing Ginting 21-9 in the first game. The second game was more closely contested with Ginting coming from behind to close the gap to 19-20 but the Danes hanged in there to seal the victory with a 21-19 win.
Reaching his first Hong Kong Open final, Axelsen said he had been in the control of the game until the final stages when Ginting upped the tempo and chased tightly from behind. “I made more mistakes approaching the end and lost several points. This is a difficult match … I don’t have any structure training after the Olympics and there is pressure on me of coming to Hong Kong in fear of my form. Nevertheless, I feel very happy of reaching the final.”
In the other semifinals, upcoming Lei Lan Xi upset defending champion and world number seven Jonatan Christie of Indonesia 2-1 to reach his second World Tour final in three months.
The 26-year-old mainlander won through 21-14, 12-21, 21-17 after a lengthy 69 minutes in their first encounter. Lei also reached the US Open final in June but lost the gold medal to Yushi Tanaka of Japan.
“It will be a great challenge for me to play against Axelsen in the final as he is a top ranked player,” Lei said, who played mostly in the international series until last year. “Against defending champion Christie, I was under pressure as I really wanted to win. Now I have to see what I can do in the final.”
In the WOMEN’S SINGLES semifinals, talented Japanese prodigy Komoka Miyazaki put up a strong fight against Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia before losing 2-1 after 76 minutes. Wardani, who reached the final of last week’s Taipei Open, eventually won 22-20, 21-23, 21-18 after three gruelling games. She will now meet third seed Han Yue of China in the final. The latter beat Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand 2-0 (22-20, 21-10) in another semifinals to reach her second World Tour final of the season after the Thailand Open in May.
