Ratchanok breezes into quarter-finals
Ratchanok Intanon barely broke a sweat as she cruised into the quarter-finals of the BWF Hong Kong Open yesterday.
The sixth-seeded Thai stormed past 78th-ranked Yulia Yosephin Susanto of Indonesia 21-3, 21-14 in just 27 minutes at the US$400,000 (13.2 million baht) Superseries tournament.
Ratchanok will next meet either fourth seed Carolina Marin of Spain or Michelle Li of Canada in the last eight today.
Reigning Olympic champion Marin was due to play Li in the night session at Hong Kong Coliseum in Kowloon.
World No.6 Ratchanok is chasing her fourth title of the year. She won the Thailand Open in June, the New Zealand Open in August — both Grand Prix Gold tournaments — and the Denmark Open Superseries Premier event last month.
Ratchanok reached the semi-finals at the China Open Superseries Premier tournament in Fuzhou last week.
The 22-year-old was the only Thai player left in the women’s singles event after compatriot Busanan Ongbamrungphan crashed out to seventh seed He Bingjiao 17-21, 14-21.
China’s He goes on to meet third seed Sung J-Hyun in the quarter-finals after the Korean defeated Yip Pui Yin of Hong Kong 24-22, 21-11.
Akane Yamaguchi and PV Sindhu set up another intriguing match-up in the quarterfinals today.
The fifth-seeded Yamaguchi overcame a spirited challenge from fellow Japanese Sayaka Sato 24-26, 21-16, 21-12 while Sindhu of India defeated another Japanese Aya Ohari 21-14, 21-17.
Yamaguchi defeated Chinese qualifier Gao Fengjie to win her first Superseries title of the year in Fuzhou on Sunday.
Khosit Phetpradab lost to South Korea’s Lee Don-Keun 15-21, 9-21 in the second round of the men’s singles, ending Thai interest in the event.
Lee awaits the winner of the match between fifth seed Chen Long of China and Wang Tzu-wei of Taiwan.
Rio Games gold medallist Chen won his fourth China Open title on Sunday.
Eighth seeds Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai were scheduled to play their women’s doubles second-round match last night.