Carolina Marín’s quarterfinal opponent will be Japan’s Aya Ohori, the bronze medalist at this year’s Asian Games. If she advances to the semifinals, she may face Tai Tzu-ying again.
Tai Tzu-ying defeated her teammate Pai Yu-po with scores of 21-17 and 23-21 in the French Badminton Open today, securing her fifth consecutive victory against Pai. Tai has now achieved 499 wins in BWF women’s singles throughout her career. Ranked fourth in the world, Tai easily advanced to the round of 16 by defeating Germany’s Li Yvonne with scores of 21-12 and 21-11 in just 33 minutes during the first round. Pai Yu-po had previously defeated Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara, the 2017 World Champion, with scores of 21-14 and 21-12 in the previous round. Last week, Tai completed her 500th BWF career victory at the Denmark Open, which includes 497 singles wins, one mixed doubles win, and two women’s doubles wins. This week, she has the opportunity to reach the milestone of 500 singles wins. Although Tai won the French Open in 2017, her recent European tour saw early exits in the quarterfinals of both the Arctic Open and the Denmark Open. In all four international matches against world No. 27 Pai Yu-po, Tai has maintained a perfect record. In today’s match, after trailing 1-2 in the first game, Tai scored five consecutive points. Although Pai narrowed the gap to three points and saved one game point, Tai capitalized on her opponent’s weak returns with a powerful smash to secure the first game. In the second game, Pai managed to keep pace with Tai and even held an 11-8 lead at the technical timeout, extending her advantage to four points at one stage. However, Tai fought back to level the score at 18-18. A misjudgment caused Tai to fall behind 18-19, and Pai eventually earned a game point. Although Tai saved the crisis and reached match point at 21-20, she couldn’t close it immediately. Ultimately, Tai’s superior skills secured her victory. Aya Ohori advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan with scores of 21-10 and 21-12 in the women’s singles round of 16. Currently ranked 19th in the world, Ohori, the bronze medalist at the Hangzhou Asian Games, faced world No. 15 Busanan today. The two have met 12 times previously, with each winning six matches. However, Busanan had won their last four encounters, including a straight-game victory at last week’s Denmark Open. In today’s match, Ohori was in excellent form. She dominated the first game from start to finish. In the second game, after trailing 4-6, Ohori launched a 7-0 rally to turn the tide and steadily expanded her lead. She won in straight games in 40 minutes, ending her four-match losing streak against Busanan and achieving a successful revenge. Last week, Carolina Marín defeated Tai Tzu-ying and P.V. Sindhu at the Denmark Open, advancing to the final where she lost to Chen Yufei. Her world ranking has now risen to fifth. In today’s round of 16 match against a relatively unknown 21-year-old Indonesian player, Marín faced little difficulty in the first game. After leveling the score at 7-7, she went on a 5-0 run to secure the game.After regrouping, Vaddani maintained a slight lead in the first half of the second game. However, Carolina Marin caught up after the technical timeout and secured four consecutive points towards the end, preventing her opponent from extending the match and clinching the quarterfinal berth.
Marin will face Japan’s Ohori Aya, the bronze medalist at this Asian Games, in the quarterfinals. If she advances to the semifinals, she may have another opportunity to compete against Tai Tzu Ying. Site User Guidelines: Resist abusive language. Excellent original contributions are welcomed. Resume submission channel: Currently unavailable.
