An amazing comeback – Se-young stuns Tzu-ying to reach final

PETALING JAYA: South Korea’s An Se-young (pic) pulled off a stunning comeback win over Taiwanese rival Tai Tzu-ying to reach the final of the French Open.

Se-young incredibly clawed her way back from 12-18 and 16-20 down in the third game to come away with a 21-12, 17-21, 22-20 victory over Tzu-ying in a thrilling women’s singles semi-final match at the Adidas Arena in Paris yesterday.

The Taiwanese world No. 3 had ousted the reigning world champion in similar situations at the same stage en route to capturing the World Tour Finals title in Hangzhou last December.

That time, Tzu-ying had fought her way back from 10-19 down in the deciding game to win 19-21, 21-15, 22-20.

It was world No. 1 Se-young’s turn this time to inflict a painful defeat on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medallist.

The 22-year-old has now beaten Tzu-ying 12 times in her past 15 meetings with the latter.

It will be Se-young’s second final of the year after she had captured the Malaysian Open title in Bukit Jalil in January.

Standing in her way to the title will be either defending champion and reigning Olympic gold medallist Chen Yufei of China or Japan’s former two-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi.

Meanwhile, there was further joy for South Korea when mixed doubles pair Seo Seung-jae-Chae Yu-jung also reached the final.

Seung-jae-Yu-jung, who captured the world title last year just like Se-young, beat Thailand’s 2021 world champions Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree-Taerattanachai 21-18, 21-16 to make it into their first final of the year.The Koreans will take on either China’s Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping or the latter’s teammates Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin in the title match.

RESULTS

Quarter-final

Men’s singles: Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Tha) bt Wang Tzuwei (Tpe) 21-18, 21-16; Chico Aura (Ina) bt Anders Antonsen (Den) 21-15, 21-8; Shi Yuqi (Chn) bt Lu Guangzu (Chn) 21-15, 21-15; Lakshya Sen (Ind) bt Loh Kean Yew (Sin) 19-21, 21-15, 21-13.

Men’s doubles: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty (Ind) bt Supak Jomkoh-Kittinupong Kedren (Tha) 21-19, 21-13; Lee Jhe-huei-Yang Po-hsuan (Tpe) bt Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto (Ina) 22-20, 21-19; Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (Jpn) bt Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (Den) 18-21, 21-18, 21-15.

Women’s doubles: Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan (Chn) bt Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand (Ind) 21-18, 21-7; Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida (Jpn) bt Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee (Kor) 21-14, 15-21, 21-10; Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara (Jpn) bt Li Wenmei-Liu Xuanxuan (Chn) 21-19, 21-11; Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning (Chn) bt Jeong Na-eun-Kim Hye-jeong (Kor) 21-19, 21-10.

Mixed doubles: Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai (Tha) bt Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong (Chn) 15-21, 21-16, 26-24; Seo Seung-jae-Chae Yu-jung (Kor) bt Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue (Fra) 21-12, 21-9.

SeMi-final

Women’s singles: An Se-young (Kor) bt Tai Tzu-ying (Tpe) 21-12, 17-21, 22-20.

Mixed doubles: Seo Seung-jae-Chae Yu-jung (Kor) bt Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree-Taerattanachai (Tha) 21-18, 21-16.