Chinese shuttler Wang Zhiyi upsets world No. 1 to reach semis at Indonesian Open

JAKARTA -- Asian champion Wang Zhiyi of China continued her giant killing run at the Indonesian Open, beating Japan's Akane Yamaguchi to reach the women's singles semifinals here on Friday.

The 22-year-old beat the top seed and current world No. 1 Yamaguchi 21-19, 21-14 to set up a semifinal clash with fellow Chinese He Bingjiao, who defeated South Korea's An Se-young 15-21, 21-17, 21-14 in the quarters.

The other semifinal encounter will pit China's Chen Yufei, ranked world No. 4, and Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu-ying, after Chen smashed Nozomi Okuhara from Japan 21-16, 21-10 and Tai beat Denmark's Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt 21-13, 21-13.

In the men's singles, China's Zhao Junpeng defeated Lee Cheukyiu of Hong Kong, China 21-14, 17-21, 21-11. World No.1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark beat Indonesia's Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 21-13, 19-21, 21-9. His compatriot Ramsus Gemke was knocked out by India's Prannoy H. S. 14-21, 12-21.

No Chinese pair survived the women's doubles quarterfinals, as world No.1 Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan were beaten by Thai Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai 21-19, 21-15, and Du Yue and Li Wenmei lost to Japan's Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida 14-21, 20-22.

In the men's doubles, China's Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuanyi defeated world No. 6 from Indonesia, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto 21-18, 21-18. Malaysian duo Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik defeated Indonesia's Pramudya Kusumawardana and Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan in three sets.

In the mixed doubles, China's top-seeded duo Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong, ranked the second in the world, advanced to the semifinals after beating their Danish opponents Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Boje 21-18, 14-21, 21-17 in about one hour.

They will meet world No. 4 compatriots Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping in the semis after the latter knocking out Malaysian pair Chen Tangjie and Valeree Siow 21-12, 21-14 in 33 minutes.

The 2022 Indonesian Open kicked off on June 14 and will end on June 19 at the Istora Senayan sports stadium in the country's capital city of Jakarta, with a total prize of 1.2 million U.S. dollars.