Pornpawee rallies to master Busanan, faces Marin in title match
>> Pornpawee Chochuwong will vie for her first World Tour Super 300 title after setting up a final against Carolina Marin at the US$170,000 BWF Spain Masters today.
Sixth seed Pornpawee rallied to defeat third seeded compatriot Busanan Ongbamrungpghan 14-21, 21-15, 21-12 in the semifinals in Barcelona.
The 22-year-old world No.20 will play top seed and world No.8 Marin, who defeated another Thai hope Supanida Katethong 21-16, 21-16 in the second semi-final.
Pornpawee was a runner-up at the 2018 Thailand Masters — also a World Tour 300 event — and a finalist at the 2017 Malaysia Masters — then a Grand Prix
Gold event.
Second seeds Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Projongjai failed to progress in the women’s doubles event after losing to
Gabriela and Stefani Stoeva of Bulgaria 14-21, 21-16, 9-21.
Kunlavut Vitidsarn was due to play Ajay Jayaram of India in the men’s singles semi-finals. The winner will meet Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the decider.
The mixed doubles final will feature South Koreans Kim Sa-Rang and Kim Ha-Na against French sixth seeds Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue.
The Korean duo needed three games to defeat Mathias Bay-Smidt and Rikke Soby of Denmark 14-21, 21-11, 21-15 while Gicquel and Delrue beat Yang Po-hsuan and Hu Ling-fang of Taiwan 21-16, 21-13.
Meanwhile Chinese players have been cleared of the coronavirus and will play three tournaments in Europe, officials said yesterday.
The Chinese Badminton Association said “no one is infected” and that the team would compete at next week’s German Open, the All England Open and the Swiss Open.
Chen Long and Shi Yuqi, as well as Lin Dan, are listed as starters in Germany and at the All England, as well as women’s world No.1 Chen Yufei.