Pictured: Sumiya Nihei and Minami Asakura, Japan. Photo credit: Mel Walsh
Out of the four seeded pairs who progressed into tonight’s mixed doubles semifinals, the lower seeded underdogs were the ones who rose to the occasion. Although that still includes the champions from last week’s tournament in Bendigo, Chang and Lee. Tomorrow, they’ll take on new opponents from Japan who will challenge them for the International Challenge title.
- Chang Ko-Chi/Lee Chih Chen (TPE)[8] vs Naoki Yamada/Moe Ikeuchi (JPN)[4] 13-21 21-12 21-12
- Sumiya Nihei/Minami Asakura (JPN)[3] vs Ye Hong Wei/Lee Chia Hsin (TPE)[2] 21-16 21-19
Shortly afterwards, the women’s singles semifinals entranced the crowd as both matches tipped over the 70-minute mark and saw two Japanese contenders progress through to the final – challenging the norm of the last two weeks which has seen an all-Chinese Taipei affair come the final day.
- Hirari Mizui (JPN) vs Liang Ting Yu (TPE) 21-19 19-21 21-15
- Shiori Saito (JPN) vs Manami Suizu (JPN) 19-21 21-15 21-8
Moreover, Yushi Tanaka continued his incredible streak to make it into tomorrow’s final. After defeating the tournament favourite yesterday, his deception and speed helped him to ease past the sixth seed this evening. Tomorrow, he will take on fellow teammate and sixth seed, Riku Hatano, in another final which has challenged the Chinese Taipei contingent who have monopolized men’s singles over the last two weeks. Hatano had to work for it as his opponent, Riki Takei, fought from 20-14 down to bring it back to 20 all, but ultimately it was too little too late.
- Yushi Tanaka (JPN) vs Chen Chi Ting (TPE)[6] 21-12 21-10
- Riku Hatano (JPN)[5] vs Riki Takei (JPN) 21-18 22-20
Oceania’s only remaining interest in the tournament, Wendy Chen and Gronya Somerville (Australia), celebrated their best result since their Commonwealth Games fourth place finish in August as they beat the third seeds this evening. The pair seemed to have lifted their foot off the gas after escaping with the first game and losing the second. However, the pair found a second wind to capitalise on an early lead to win the decider. Tomorrow, they will meet the YONEX Sydney International women’s doubles champions in the final, Sung Shuo Yuin and Yu Chien Hui.
- Wendy Chen/Gronya Somerville (AUS) vs Lee Chia Hsin/Teng Chun Hsun (TPE) 22-20 13-21 21-14
- Sung Shuo Yun/Yu Chien Hui (TPE) vs Hsieh Pei Shan/Tseng Yu-Chi (TPE) 17-21 21-14 21-12
Signing off the semifinals, the men’s doubles pairs from Chinese Taipei reinforced their dominance as the challenges from Singapore and Canada could not break through the walls built by Chang/Po and Lee/Lee. As a result, the four players have booked an exact repeat of last week’s final in Bendigo, which Chang and Po won (although Lee and Lee won the Sydney title in the week prior).
- Chang Ko-Chi/Po Li-Wei (TPE)[3] vs Donovan Willard Wee/Guang Liang Jason Wong (SGP) 21-15 21-13
- Fang-Chih Lee/Fang-Jen Lee (TPE) vs Kevin Lee/Ty Lindeman (CAN)[4] 21-13 21-16
Check out all of today’s results and tomorrow’s schedule on Tournament Software. The finals will begin at 10am (local time, GMT+13) on Sunday 23 October 2022.
All five finals will be available to watch on the live stream for free, via Badminton Oceania’s YouTube channel – click here to watch. Follow the latest news and find out more on Badminton Oceania’s Facebook page.
