Chinese players appeared in all five individual semi-finals and advanced in three events. Among them, the women's singles No. 4 seed Chen Yufei defeated the world's second-ranked Chinese Taipei star Tai Tzu Ying in straight games, and the mixed doubles world's number one Zheng Si

Beijing Daily Client | Reporter Wang Xiaoxiao

The Malaysia Badminton Masters entered the penultimate round on July 9, Beijing time. Chinese players appeared in all five individual semi-finals and advanced in three events. Among them, the women's singles No. 4 seed Chen Yufei defeated the world's second-ranked Chinese Taipei star Dai Ziying and the mixed doubles The world's number one Zheng Siwei / Huang Yaqiong narrowly defeated a Chinese Taipei pair by two points.

Chen Yufei and Dai Ziying can be described as "old enemies". The two have played against each other 22 times before, and Chen Yufei only won five games. However, in the past four games including the Tokyo Olympics finals, the two won two games each, and each time they fought to the decider. This semi-final is the fourth time the two have met this season and the third consecutive match. The two have previously won one victory each in the two high-level open matches.

In this rematch, Chen Yufei got into the state quickly at the beginning and got a "good start" with 21-13. In the second game, the two sides competed fiercely. After wasting four match points and saving one game point, Chen Yufei finally won 23-21 and won two consecutive victories against her powerful opponent.

In the mixed doubles semi-finals, No. 2 seeds Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong, who had won five consecutive championships, had a particularly difficult time winning. Facing the Chinese Taipei players Yang Boxuan/Hu Lingfang, who entered the top four of the World Badminton League event again after two and a half years and received the "exit gift" from Wang Yilu / Huang Dongping in the semifinals, the "IELTS" combination was at a disadvantage in the first game. After saving four game points, the game still started at a disadvantage at 20-22. In the second game, the two scored 5 points in a row after fighting to a 16-all tie with their opponents, and regained the victory 21-16. In the deciding game, the Chinese combination was lagging behind most of the time. But the two did not give up. After saving a match point, they advanced 22-20 and were only one step away from their sixth consecutive championship.

In addition, Chinese players also performed triumphantly in the women's doubles semifinals. Top seeds Chen Qingchen / Jia Yifan withstood the opponent's pursuit in the second game and defeated the host "dark horse" Chen Kangle/Tina 21-10, 21-19, with a strong performance without losing a game. Reached the finals for the fourth time this season.

In the other two competitions, Chinese players failed to make any further progress. Lu Guangzu, ranked 25th in the world, fought hard for 98 minutes and lost to Indonesian "dark horse" Wadoyo 22-20, 21-23, 19-21. The men's doubles combination of Liang Weikeng/ and Wang Chang lost to the No. 3 seeds, Indonesian veterans Ahsan/Stiyawan 0-2, and missed the chance to compete for the championship.

Image source for this article: Badminton World Federation official Weibo