Professionals, Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying are in the mixed doubles final of the USD150,000 New Zealand Open after defeating fourth seeds Hafiz Faizal-Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja of Indonesia 21-14, 21-18 in the semi-finals on Saturday.
The second-seeded Malaysians will battle another Indonesian pair – fifth seeds Praveen Jordan-Melati Daeva Oktavianti – for the title. Jordan-Oktavianti defeated Wang Chi Lin-Cheng Chi ya 21-12, 23-21.
Peng Soon-Liu Ying, winners of the New Zealand Open in 2016, hope to win their second world tour title this year after winning the Thailand Masters in January.
While Peng Soon-Liu Ying celebrated their march to the final it was the end of the road for Goh V Shem-tan Wee Kiong in the men’s doubles. The pair, seeded seventh, went down to All England champions and number two seeds Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan 19-21, 21-18, 14-21 in 52 minutes.
The men’s singles final will be between Angus Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong China and Indonesia’s Asian Games champion Jonatan Christie. Ka Long packed off Chinese ace Lin Dan 21-13, 21-11 while Christie gunned down Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama 21-12, 21-15.
In the women’s singles, China’s former Olympic champion Li Xuerui stunned Japan’s newly crowned Asian champion and top seed Akane Yamaguchi 13-21, 21-19, 21-13. Xuerui will play young Korean An So-young for the title. So-young snatched a 21-17, 19-21, 21-13 win over Japan’s No 7 seed Ayo Ohori in a 75-minute battle. – BY RIZAL ABDULLAH
- Advertisement - 
