Ratchanok impressive in quick decimation of Ohori
An array of well-placed shots saw Thai fifth seed Ratchanok Intanon through to the quarter-finals of the US$1.1 million All England Open in Birmingham yesterday.
Ratchanok, a former world champion who has yet to win the All England crown, was in spectacular form as she defeated Aya Ohori of Japan 21-11, 21-11 in a breezy victory.
The Thai ace faces a tough opponent in the quarter-final today, when she goes up against reigning women’s champion and world No.1 Chen Yufei.
The Chinese star needed only 41 minutes to dispatch another Thai player, Busanan Ongbamrungphan, with a 21-17, 21-13 victory yesterday at Arena Birmingham.
Meanwhile, Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai booked their berth in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
The Thai mixed doubles stars defeated Lee Jhe-huei and Hsu Yaching of Taiwan 21-15, 21-7. They will face Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Widjaja of Indonesia for a place in the last four of the BWF World Tour Super 1000 event.
Women’s doubles stars Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai were scheduled to play Kim So-Yeong and Kong Hee-Yong of South Korea late last night.
In other notable results, Carolina Marin of Spain defeated Wang Zhiyi of China 21-13, 21-14 in the women’s singles, while men’s top seed Chou Tienchen of Taiwan scraped past Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama 19-21, 26-24, 21-13.
Rasmus Gemke of Denmark also advanced to the last eight after he rallied to beat Shesar Hiren Rhustavito of Indonesia 18-21, 21-13, 21-9.