Badminton Korea Open: Idol of Nguyen Thuy Linh wins world No. 1 Yamaguchi

Once confirmed by Vietnam's No. 1 female tennis player Nguyen Thuy Linh as an idol at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, former Chinese Taipei No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying has just made a splash when she reached the women's singles final of the 2023 Korean Open Badminton Tournament by defeating Japanese world No. 1 Akane Yamaguchi 21-17, 21-19 in 35 minutes at Yeosu. In the first game, Tai Tzu-ying was down 12-16, but scored a five-point streak to turn the tide before winning 21-17. In game 2, Tai Tzu-ying led 14-9. Despite Yamaguchi's 17-17 equalizer, the Chinese Taipei star still won the final thanks to his superb smashing ability.

Despite winning, Tai Tzu-ying admitted defeating Yamaguchi was not easy and she also made a few mistakes in this match. This is also the first time she entered the final of a Super 500 tournament with the next opponent, the Korean No. 2 An Se-young. Currently ranked 4th in the world, Tai Tzu-ying competed with An Se-young 8 times, but only defeated the Korean girl 2 times.

This time if Tai Tzu-ying wins, it will be her third title this year, after the Asian Championships and the Taipei Open. In the semi-finals, An Se-young defeated the reigning Olympic champion, China's No. 3, Chen Yufei 15-21, 21-8, 24-22 after a 78-minute "marathon".

In the men's singles, the results of both semi-finals can be considered surprising. Former world champion Singaporean Loh Kean Yew defeated Japanese No. 1 seed Kodai Naraoka 18-21, 21-16, 21-15 over 80 minutes. This is the 3rd time they have faced each other and also the 3rd time that the 8th ranked player in the world has defeated this 4th ranked opponent in the world.

But this time, Loh Kean Yew had to make a spectacular comeback due to losing the first game and leading 4-12 in game 2, before brilliantly scoring 17 of the next 21 points. Thus, the 2022 Korean Open will see Loh Kean Yew enter the final of the BWF World Tour system for the first time since January 2022.

The final match with Loh Kean Yew is Anders Antonsen, the world No.6 Danish tennis player and Chinese Shi Yu Qi 21-16, 24-22 in the great battle between the two former world No. 2. The second game was quite dramatic because Antonsen missed a few match-points, so he almost lost.