Jongkolphan, Rawinda reach India final
Jongkolphan, Rawinda face Indonesia’s Polii and Rahayu in India Open women’s doubles final
>> Thai badminton stars Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai are just one win away from their second title of the year.
The second seeds, who are making their first appearance in the final of the World Tour Super 500 (formerly Superseries) tournament, put on a defensive masterclass to fend off China’s Du Yue and Li Yinhui 21-19, 21-17 in the last-four clash of the India Open in New Delhi yesterday.
World No.11 Jongkolphan and Rawinda will battle third seeds Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu of Indonesia for the women’s doubles title today.
Polii and Rahayu stunned top seeds and world No.3 Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna Pedersen of Denmark 21-14, 19-21, 21-18 in the other semifinal at Siri Fort Indoor Stadium.
Jongkolphan and Rawinda, who are aiming to break into the top five in the women’s doubles world rankings this year, began 2018 in style with a victory at the Princess Sirivannavari Thailand Masters last month. They also reached the Indonesia Masters quarter-finals, where they lost to Juhl and Pedersen just over a week ago.
Meanwhile, Zhang Beiwen ended Cheung Ngan Yi’s impressive run in the US$350,000 (approximately 11.2 million baht) tournament with a tough three-game victory in the first women’s singles semi-final yesterday.
Fifth seed Zhang of the US fought back to defeat the sixth seed from Hong Kong 14-21, 21-12, 21-19.
Cheung upset second seed and Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain, while Zhang knocked out Indian fourth seed Saina Nehwal in the quarter-finals on Friday.
World No.11 Zhang, 27, faces either third seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand or top seed Pusarla V Sindhu of India in today’s decider.
Ratchanok, who replaced Sindhu as No.3 in the world this week, is also chasing her second title of the year.
Earlier, world No.7 Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan reached the men’s singles title match after defeating unseeded Chinese Qiao Bin 23-21, 21-16.
He takes on Chinese fourth seed Shi Yuqi, who rallied past unseeded Malaysian Iskandar Zulkarnain 18-21, 21-10-, 21-19, in today’s final.