PETALING JAYA: Denmark’s Anders Antonsen continued his impressive form this year by storming into the Indonesian Masters final.
Antonsen stole the show by capturing the Malaysian Open title earlier this month and has picked up where he left off in Bukit Jalil with another fine run in Jakarta.The 26-year-old skipped the Indian Open in New Delhi last week but showed no signs of slowing down after pulling off an impressive 21-14, 21-8 win over Thailand’s reigning world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the last four yesterday.
World No. 7 Antonsen controlled the match from start to finish to come away with his fourth win in five meetings with Kunlavut in international tournaments.
The Dane has yet to drop a single game throughout the tournament so far.
Antonsen beat homester and last year’s runner-up Chico Aura, India’s 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Lakshya Sen and China’s Lei Lanxi in the earlier rounds.
Standing in his way in the final today will be Brian Yang of Canada who upset home favourite and world No. 4 Anthony Ginting 13-21, 21-17, 21-19 in the other semis match.
But despite the defeat, Kunlavut can take heart from his overall performance in the tourney after making it to his first semi-final since capturing the world title last August.In the women’s doubles, Zhang Shuxian-Zheng Yu set up an all-Chinese final with Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning in a repeat of the Malaysian Open title match after beating Thailand’s Jongkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajongjai 21-12, 12-21, 21-14.
Shengshu-Tan Ning, who had triumphed over their teammates in Malaysia, easily swept aside unheralded homesters Lanny Tria-Ribka Sugiarto 21-14, 21-11 to book their own spot in the final.
In the mixed doubles, China will also be represented through world No. 1 Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong, who will play Japan’s world No. 13 Hiroki Midorikawa-Natsu Saito for the title.
SEMI -FINAL RESULTS
Men’s singles: Anders Antonsen (Den) bt Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Tha) 21-14, 21-8; Brian Yang (Can) bt Anthony Ginting (Ina) 13-21, 21-17, 21-19.
Women’s doubles: Zhang Shuxian-Zheng Yu (Chn) bt Jongkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajongjai (Tha) 21-12, 12-21, 21-14; Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning (Chn) bt Lanny Tria-Ribka Sugiarto (Ina) 21-14, 21-11.
Mixed doubles: Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong (Chn) bt Kim Won-ho-Jeong Na-eun (Kor) 21-11, 21-18; Hiroki Midorikawa-Natsu Saito (Jpn) bt Jesper Toft-Clara Graversen (Den) 21-12, 21-13.
