Soniia upsets fourth seed Yu-po to reach Taiwan Open semis

PETALING JAYA: National singles shuttler Soniia Cheah (pic) put on another sterling performance to upset fourth seed and home crowd favourite Pai Yu-po to storm into the semi-finals of the Taiwan Open.

The seventh seed staved off a strong challenge from the world No. 30 before edging out a 21-19, 21-18 quarter-final win.

The 25-year-old now has a massive task in front of her as she faces world No. 1 Tai Tzu- ying, who is also of Taiwan next.

She will need to be at the top of her game if she is to have any chance of defeating the 24-yearold.

In four meetings, Soniia has failed to get the better of the Taiwanese, who was impressive as she thrashed her national teammate Sung Shuo- yun for a resounding 21-6, 21-14 win.

Lee Zii Jia emerged as the sole remaining challenger in the men’s singles after Chong Wei Feng tamely bowed out to Japan’s Riichi Takeshita with a score of 15-21, 11-21.

After a closely contested first game, the 20- year- old Zii Jia’s youth looked to have got the better of India’s Ajay Jayaram, as the Malaysian cruised to a 21-16, 21-9 win.

And waiting for him in the semi-finals is Taiwan’s world No. 4 Chou Tien Chen who took out Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu 21-19, 21-7.

Zii Jia will want to settle the score having lost to the first seed in a hard- fought match in the same tournament last year.

In the mixed doubles, Chen Tang Jie-Peck Yen Wei were made to dig deep as they found their way back from a game down to seal their place in the semi-finals.

They ousted Indonesian pair Rinov Rivaldy- Pitha Haningtyas Mentari 17-21, 21-12, 23-21.

And Tang Jie-Yen Wei will need another big showing when they face- off against Taiwan’s Yang Po-hsuan -Wu Ti-jung next, who took out the first seeds and fellow Taiwanese Wang-Chi-lin-Lee Chiasin.

They also had to come from a game down to win it 17-21, 21-16, 21-19.