2017 Macau Open: Semifinal Saturday, two singles down, two to go

Japanese Kento Momota defeated the world No. 25 and the 2017 Denmark Open runner-up Lee Hyun-il.

Kento Momota
Kento Momota Reuters

2017 Macau Open aka Macau Open Grand Prix Gold is scheduled from 7 to 12 November at Tap Seac Multisport Pavilion Macau in Macau and 11 November is the semi-final Saturday.

Two singles players have progressed to the final of 2017 Macau Open. While the Japanese Kento Momota defeated the world No. 25 and the 2017 Denmark Open runner-up Lee Hyun-il by 20-22, 21-16, 21-11, in the women's semi-final battle Taiwan's Pai Yu-Po beat Chinese ace Zhang Yiman by 20-22, 21-16, 21-11.

Earlier in Macau Open, the 23-year-old Momota had defeated Indonesian player Krishna Adi Nugraha in the round of 64. Later he disappointed Hong Kong's Lee Cheuk Yiu and two compatriots Naoki Yamazawa and Kanta Tsuneyama.

Pai Yu-po
Pai Yu-po Reuters

On the other hand, the world No. 42 Yu-Po had defeated Indonesia's Ruselli Hartawan, Russian ace Evgeniya Kosetskaya and Chinese ace Han Yue in previous matches at Tap Seac Multisport Pavilion Macau.

Later on Saturday, Malaysian Zulfadli Zulkiffli and Indonesia's Ihsan Maulana Mustofa will be playing against each other in the second match of men's semi-final and in the women's singles event Chinese teen Cai Yanyan will be serving against Hong Kong's Cheung Ngan Yi.

In a head-to-head count, Mustofa has a 1-0 leade against Zulkiffli. Earlier in 2017, both have played in Badminton Asia Championships, where the 21-year-old Mustofa beat the 24-year-old ace Zulkiffli by 14-21, 21-16, 15-21. However, the battle between Yanyan and Ngan Yi will be their first ever match against each other.

This article was first published on November 11, 2017
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