# Chong Wei to meet China’s Tian Houwei in the final
# Overcomes a stubborn Angus Ng in the semi-finals
# Carolina Marin to face Nozomi Okuhara in women’s final
Three-time champion Datuk Lee Chong Wei marched into his seventh final in nine years in the Hong Kong Open after he stopped Hong Kong’s rising star Angus Ng Ka Long in the semi-finals on Saturday.
The 33-year-old Malaysian, fresh from winning his first China Open in Fuzhou last week will face China’s 23-year-old Tian Houwei in Sunday’s final in the USD350,000 Yonex Sunrise Hong Kong Open.
In the semi-finals World No 6 Chong Wei overcame Angus Ng 21-19, 21-14 in 45 minutes – riding on his experience to take him through the first set.
The turning point for Chong Wei came at 18-15 in favour of Angus when the Malaysian sought medical treatment for an injured finger. This broke the homester’s rhythm as Chong Wei returned to court to win six of the seven points – reeling of four points in a row to lead 19-18 and finished it off in 24 minutes at 21-19.
In the second set Chong Wei, who took the break at 11-6 and was in command with his well executed shots at the net although Angus Ng made a brief fightback at one stage but it was not good enough. With the win Chong Wei stretched his lead to 3-0 in the head-to-head count against Angus Ng.
Despite the defeat Angus Ng can take pride as the first player from his country to reach the semi-finals in the Hong Kong Open.
Chong Wei, will have to be wary of Houwei in the final. The 23-year-old Chinese won his only previous meeting with the former World No 1 and this was in the Australian Open in 2013 when he won 21-19, 17-21, 21-18.
Houwei stopped Indonesian qualifier Ginting Anthony’s fairy tale run in Hong Kong with a come-from-behind 18-21, 21-11, 216 win in 59 minutes.
The women’s final will be between World No 1 and top seed Carolina Marin of Spain and Japan’s unseeded Nozomi Okuhara.
Marin defeated China’s Wang Yihan (seeded 8) 21-18, 21-16 in 45 minutes while Nozomi ousted former world champion and seventh seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand after tough first set before prevailing 26-24, 21-6 in 45 minutes.
Chong Wei has been in fine form of late – winning the French Open and the China Open – and the back to back wins in the superseries puts him in good stead to add the Hong Kong Open.
He has also won the US Open and Canada Open Grand Prix Gold after coming back from a eight-month ban for a doping scandal.
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SEMI-FINAL RESULTS (Selected)
MEN
Singles
Datuk Lee Chong Wei (Mas) beat Angus Ng Ka Long (Hkg) 21-19, 21-14
Tian Houwei (Chn) beat Ginting Anthony (Ina) 18-21, 21-11, 21-6
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WOMEN
Singles
Carolina Marin (Spn) beat Wang Yihan (Chn) 21-18, 21-16
Nozomi Okuhara (Jpn) beat Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) 26-24, 21-6
