PETALING JAYA: World No. 2 men’s singles shuttler Kunlavut Vitidsarn may have to wait longer to claim the All-England title after suffering a shock defeat to Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi in the semi-finals on Saturday (March 7).
Kunlavut, who had been tipped as one of the favourites to win the tournament following the early exits of several other seeded players, did not expect to follow the same path as he was pushed hard by Chun-yi.
The Thai player performed below his usual standards and went down 14-21, 21-18, 16-21 in a match that lasted 78 minutes.
The 26-year-old Chun-yi will now await the winner between Canada’s Victor Lai and India’s Lakshya Sen to determine his opponent on Sunday's (March 8) final.
It is first Super 1000 final for Chun-yi and he will be out to end his fine run with a title.
Last month, he did well to win the Indian Open after beating Jonatan Christie of Indonesia.
There was also double joy for Taiwan when mixed doubles pair Ye Hong Wei-Nicole Chan defeated Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet of Hong Kong 16-21, 21-15, 21-13 to reach their first All-England final.
They will play Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue of France in the title match. The French pair had earlier stunned China's Guo Xinwa-Chen Fanghui 11-21, 21-18, 21-12.
