Chen stuns top seed Yamaguchi at worlds
China’s Chen Yufei returns to top seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan during their BWF world championships third-round match at Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Scotland, yesterday. Chen won 21-18, 21-19.
Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi suffered a shock exit from the BWF world championships in Glasgow as Chinese youngster Chen Yufei defeated the top seed in the third round yesterday.
The 19-year-old world junior champion, seeded ninth, claimed the best win of her career 21-18, 21-19 in 52 minutes.
“I am so excited,” she said. “This was one of my big goals this year, to beat Akane.”
Yamaguchi admitted she had been well below her best, saying: “I am very sad. I made too many mistakes.”
Chen’s compatriot, fifth-seeded Sun Yu, however, made heavy weather of beating Spanish 15th seed Beatriz Corrales, winning 21-11, 19-21, 23-21 while fourth seed PV Sindhu of India also had to battle before subduing Cheung Ngan Yi of China’s Hong Kong 19-21, 23-21, 21-17.
Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain also advanced to the last eight. Marin ousted the final unseeded player in the women’s event, Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark 21-7 21-11.
In an all-Japanese last-16 battle, seventh-seeded Nozomi Okuhara emerged victorious over 11th seed Aya Ohori with a 22-20, 21-15 scoreline.
South Korea’s Son Wan-ho, the top seed in the men’s singles, needed three games before finally knocking out Thailand’s Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk 21-14, 17-21, 21-13 in 62 minutes.
For the second straight match, Chinese superstar Lin Dan had to battle back to advance. After being taken to three games on Wednesday by Emil Holst of Denmark, the five-time world champion had to dig deep to oust Rajiv Ouseph of England on Thursday.
The two hadn’t met for five years but Lin managed to keep his calm as the seventh seed rallied to a 14-21, 21-17, 21-16 victory to advance to the last eight, where he was joined by compatriot and defending champion Chen Long.
Chen, the Olympic gold medalist and fifth seed, trounced India's 13th seed Ajay Jayaram 21-11, 21-10.
Third seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark made short work of Ng Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong 21-17, 21-13 while eighth-seeded Indian Kidambi Srikanth advanced with a 21-14, 21-18 victory over 14th-seeded Dane Anders Antonsen.
