Taiwan badminton ace Chou reaches semi-final at Arctic Open

Taipei, Oct. 12 (CNA) World No. 10 badminton player Chou Tien-chen (周天成) reached the men's singles semifinal at the Arctic Open 2024 held in Vantaa, Finland on Friday, after beating Alex Lanier of France.

Chou defeated Lanier 22-20, 13-21, 21-19 in an 87-minute match, avenging his loss to the world No. 21, in the final of the Japan Open in August.

In a tightly contested first set, Chou fought back after falling behind six times to secure a set point at 20-19. Despite his opponent leveling the score at 20-20 he then found an extra gear to win the next two points and take the set.

Chou lost his rhythm in the second set which the French player took to level the score, but re-found his form in the third set with excellent net play, scoring three consecutive points to secure victory when trailing 18-19.

Lanier played very well throughout the match, Chou told CNA, "I tried my best to pressure him, look for scoring opportunities throughout the game, and stick to my strategy."

Chou will play world No. 14 Koki Watanabe of Japan in the semi-final and holds a 2-1 advantage in their previous three encounters.

Meanwhile, Taiwanese shuttlers Lai Po-yu (賴柏佑) and Sun Liang-ching (孫亮晴) won the mixed doubles semi-final at the 2024 World Junior Championships in Nanchang, China on Saturday.

Teaming up for the first time, Lai and Sun defeated Shuji Sawada and Aya Tamaki of Japan, 21-11, 21-15, and face the tournament's second-seeded duo, Lin Xiangyi (林祥毅) and Liu Yuanyuan (劉圓圓) from China in the final.