LONDON: Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen reached his fourth consecutive men’s singles final at the All England Badminton Open after beating Chou Tien Chen from Chinese Taipei in straight sets on Saturday.
It took the top seed from Denmark 48 minutes to see off the fourth seed Chou 21-13, 21-15. His last opponent in Birmingham this year is Indian prodigy Lakshya Sen as the 20-year-old ousted Malaysia’s defending champion Lee Zii Jia 21-13, 12-21 and 21-19.
At the German Open last week, Lakshya Sen beat Axelsen in the semifinals, reported Xinhua news agency.
In the women’s semifinals, China’s Olympic champion Chen Yufei was defeated 21-11, 21-13 by world champion Akane Yamaguchi from Japan, while top seed Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei lost to 20-year-old South Korean An Se-young 21-19, 21-13.
“I know that she is very strong in defence and she makes very little errors,“ Yamaguchi was quoted by the tournament’s official website when talking about her rival in the final. “I think it will be a tough game.” - Bernama