Home favourites Ratchanok Intanon and the mixed doubles duo Sapsiree Taerattanachai and Dechapol Puavaranukroh recorded straight-sets victories on Friday to book a place in the semi-finals of the Thailand Open badminton tournament.
World No.8 Ratchanok defeated Line Christophersen of Denmark 21-8, 21-8 in the women’s singles quarter-final at Impact Arena Muang Thong Thani in Nonthaburi.
She will face a tough semi-final opponent on Saturday in top seed Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan, who defeated Chinese eighth seed He Bingjiao 21-10, 14-21, 21-18 in a seesaw match.
Dechapol and Sapsiree had few problems in their 21-15, 21-8 quarter-final doubles victory over Kyohei Yamashita and Naru Shinoya of Japan.
They will meet Olympic champions Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongpiang on Saturday to contest for a place in Sunday’s final.
In the other mixed doubles quarter-final, the Chinese finished off Thailand’s Supak Jomkoh and Supissara Paewsampran 21-16, 21-15.
“My overall performance has boosted my confidence,” Ratchanok said after her match. “Tai is strong and good so I have to play with patience.”
The Taiwanese leads the Thai 16-14 in their head-to-head meetings.
“We will face a very strong pair in the semi-finals so we have to be well-prepared,” Dechapol said of the doubles showdown.
In Saturday’s other women’s singles semi-final, PV Sindhu of India will be up against Olympic champion Chen Yufei from China.
Sixth seed Sindhu stunned world No.1 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 21-15, 20-22, 21-13 on Friday, while Chen also needed three games to beat Canada’s Michelle Li 21-14, 2-22, 21-17.
