China swept through most of their matches on quarterfinals day at the BWF World Junior Championships 2024, looking set to make amends for their surprise loss in the Mixed Team final last week.
There were meagre pickings for the rest of the competition as the hosts saw 11 contenders make the semifinals.
Among the three matches to evade their grasp was women’s singles, with top seed Sarunrak Vitidsarn taking a step closer to partly emulating her brother Kunlavut. Sarunrak overcame a mid-match comeback from Yuan An Qi to post a 21-17 15-21 21-11 victory.
“I feel happy that I can make it to the semifinals. Before the match I thought I have to do the things that make me happy,” said the top seed. “I tried to play front court and around the net, but when I played to the back I had to keep the shuttle high.
“In the second game my defence wasn’t good and I couldn’t control the shuttle, so I had to go back to playing the front court.”
Sarunrak said she’d been receiving encouragement from her brother, the reigning world champion and Olympic silver medallist.
“This morning my brother encouraged me to do my best and told me not to compare our achievements. He’s playing the Arctic Open, so he couldn’t see my match.”
Vitidsarn next faces third seed Xu Wen Jing, who overcame a plucky challenge from India’s Tanvi Sharma. The other semifinal will see an all-Chinese battle between Dai Qin Yi and Yin Yi Qing.
In men’s singles it will be up to Indonesia’s Mohammad Zaki Ubaidillah to stop the hosts. Ubaidillah, winner of the Indonesia Masters (Super 100) last month, had little trouble in fending off Malaysia’s Muhammad Faiq in straight games. The Indonesian faces fourth seed Wang Zi Jun, who breezed past India’s Pranay Shettigar.
The top half will see last year’s runner-up Hu Zhe An against compatriot Liu Yang Ming Yu.
“I’m grateful to have made it to the semifinals. In the first game I was a little hesitant and my shots were often half-hearted. I had a good start in the beginning of the second game. Hopefully I can play well tomorrow too.
Other Results
Kang Khai Xin and Aaron Tai
» In men’s doubles, Malaysian top seeds Kang Khai Xin and Aaron Tai navigated a tricky opening game against Indonesia’s Dexter Farrell/Wahyu Agung Prasetyo to earn a semifinal against local hopefuls Chen Yong Rui/Chen Zhe Han. The other half will be a China versus Japan affair, with Kenta Mastukawa/Yuto Nakashizu against second seeds Hu Ke Yuan/Lin Xiang Yi.
» Lin Xiang Yi is in line for a double, as he also made the mixed doubles semifinals with Liu Yuan Yuan.
» The other player in sight of a double is Japan’s Aya Tamaki, who will attempt to defend her women’s doubles title with Ririna Hiramoto.
» Tamaki featured in one of China’s few losses on the day, as she and Shuji Sawada saved two match points en route to beating Li Hong Yi/Zhang Jia Han 14-21 21-17 22-20.
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