TOKYO, Aug. 28 (Xinhua/APP) –: Olympic champion Chen Yufei of China fought back from one set down to beat second seed Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei and reach the women’s singles final at the World Badminton Championships here on Saturday.
The match was a repeat of the Tokyo Olympic final last year when Chen defeated Tai in a three-set thriller to win the gold medal.
Saturday’s match proved to be more difficult. Chen found herself slump to 10-2 behind and drop the first set 21-15, but recovered quickly in the second set and gained full control, winning 21-14.
Chen took a commanding 20-12 lead in the decider and looked to be heading to an easy victory. But Tai, who also finished second at last year’s worlds, refused to throw in the towel, saving six match points to claw back to 20-18.
Chen, who had been knocked out by India’s Pusaria V. Sindhu at both semifinals in 2017 and 2019, did not make any further mistakes by sealing the match at 21-18.
“It was tough,” Chen said afterwards. “I was too cautious at the final moments.”
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