PETALING JAYA: China's Shi Yuqi will be out to win his first world title when he takes on defending champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the men's singles final on Sunday (Aug 31).
On Saturday, Yuqi saved two match points before beating Victor Lai of Canada 13-21, 22-20, 21-16 to enter his first final in seven years at the Adidas Arena in Paris.
The world No. 1 lost to Kento Momota of Japan in the 2018 final.
Kunlavut stood solid to beat Anders Antonsen of Denmark 21-17, 21-15 in another semi-final on Saturday.
In the women's singles, defending champion An Se-young went down 15-21, 17-21 to her archrival Chen Yufei of China in the semis.
Yufei will take on Japan's Akane Yamaguchi in the title match.
Se-young was reduced to tears after the defeat.
"To be honest, I felt like I played stupidly, I was afraid of making mistakes," said the reigning Olympic Games champion Se-young during the Badminton World Federation (BWF) post interview.
"My preparation for the World Championship was very good. I did my best before the competition, but I felt like I didn’t show my abilities.
"I feel really sad right now. I lost my way from the beginning. I couldn’t find a way to make the rallies, to control the match… if I have to sum up, my clears, my smashes, my timing… everything was bad… so I guess I lost everything at the same time.”
South Korea will have a chance to avenge Se-young's defeat when world No. 1 Kim Won-ho-Seo Seung-jae take on Chen Boyang-Liu Yi of China in the men's doubles final.
Malaysia and China will be involved in the other two finals with Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei taking on Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin in the mixed doubles and Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah clashing against Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning.
