BADMINTON/Taiwan's Tai Tzu-ying reaches Malaysia Open badminton final

Taipei, Jan. 13 (CNA) Taiwan badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) continued her recent hot run, battling into the finals of the 2024 Malaysia Open women's singles tournament by defeating Chen Yufei (陳雨菲) of China in three hard fought games on Saturday.

Tai finished a disappointing 2023 on a high with a win at the HSBC World Tour Finals, including a stunning upset of world No. 1 An Se-young of South Korea, and started the new year well by reaching the semifinals of the Malaysia event.

Facing Chen, who defeated her for the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, world No. 4 Tai got off to a strong start with a 5-1 lead, but the game was quickly tied at 5-5 as her opponent gained momentum.

The two players fought back-and-forth with the score tied eight times in the opening game, though Chen, currently ranked second in the world, eventually took the first game 21-17.

However, Tai came back strong to take the second game 21-15 and tie the match 1-1.

In the third game, the Taiwanese player fought aggressively but still found herself down 14-17. Facing defeat, Tai rallied one last time and strung together a run of points that put her in front, from where she went on to win the game 21-18 and the match 2-1.

Tai will face South Korean An in the final, who has defeated her 10 out of their previous 12 encounters.

Speaking to CNA after Saturday's match, Tai praised her Chinese opponent for a strong performance.

"She was on top of her game, and I was just trying to reduce any unforced errors," Tai said.

With the semifinal victory on Saturday, the Taiwanese player ended four consecutive head-to-head loses to Chen, the last time being the final of the French Open in October last year.

Tai remarked that she has recovered well from her injuries and is taking one step at a time with her treatment.

Meanwhile, the 29-year-old Tai also hinted she could retire from the sport after the Paris Olympics later this year.

She will be vying for her fifth Malaysia Open title on Sunday.

The Malaysia Open, being held in Kuala Lumpur from Jan. 9-14, is an annual event that became a Badminton World Federation Super 1000 tournament in 2023.

(By Li Chien-chung, Huang Tzu-chiang, Luke Sabatier and Ko Lin) Endlitem/AW