TOKYO, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) — Olympic champion Chen Yufei of China fought again from one set all the way down to beat second seed Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei and attain the ladies’s singles closing on the World Badminton Championships right here on Saturday.
The match was a repeat of the Tokyo Olympic closing final yr when Chen defeated Tai in a three-set thriller to win the gold medal.
Saturday’s match proved to be tougher. Chen discovered herself hunch to 10-2 behind and drop the primary set 21-15, however recovered shortly within the second set and gained full management, successful 21-14.
Chen took a commanding 20-12 lead within the decider and seemed to be heading to a straightforward victory. But Tai, who additionally completed second finally yr’s worlds, refused to throw within the towel, saving six match factors to claw again to 20-18.
Chen, who had been knocked out by India’s Pusaria V. Sindhu at each semifinals in 2017 and 2019, didn’t make any additional errors by sealing the match at 21-18.
“It was tough,” Chen mentioned afterwards. “I was too cautious at the final moments.”
The 24-year-old has improved her report to seven wins and 17 losses towards Tai. Since Chen’s victory in final yr’s Olympics, the pair have met 4 instances and received twice every.
“I have improved a lot in the past year,” Chen mentioned. “The most important thing is that I am more powerful physically.”
For Team China, Chen has turn into the primary participant in eight years to safe a berth within the girls’s singles closing and can also be hopeful of turning into the primary girls’s world champion in 11 years.
“Everybody is talking about how much Team China needs a women’s world champion because we have not won it for 11 years,” Chen mentioned. “That is an invisible pressure for me. I hope to achieve that goal, but first of all, I just want to try my best in the next match.”