BWF Malaysia Open 2024: Viktor Axelsen suffers semi-final exit to Shi Yuqi
Olympic champion Axelsen went down in three games to Shi who now faces another Dane, Anders Antonsen, in the final. Tai Tzu Ying and An Se-young will meet in the women's title decider.
Badminton
Badminton world number one Viktor Axelsen suffered a surprise defeat in the semi-finals of the BWF Malaysia Open on Saturday (13 January).
In a lengthy encounter lasting an hour and 10 minutes, the defending champion went down 21-12, 19-21, 21-17 to seventh seed Shi Yuqi of People's Republic of China in a repeat of last month's final at the BWF World Tour Finals.
Midway through the opening game, Shi won seven points out of eight to take a commanding 15-8 lead before closing it out with little fuss.
Shi led 10-6 and 18-16 in the second, but some incredible defence saw the Dane pull back to 18-18. And the Olympic champion punched the air with delight after winning three of the next four points to level the match.
Axelsen started the decider the stronger, jumping out into a 5-1 lead, but the former world number two roared back in a high-quality match.
From 12-12, the Chinese won five of the next six points to take control. Axelsen then closed the gap to one, but reeled off three points in a row to avenge last month's defeat in Hangzhou and complete just his third victory in 12 meetings.
Shi will now face another Dane, Anders Antonsen, in the final after he defeated Chinese Taipei's Lin Chun-Yi 21-16, 21-7.
In women's singles, world number one An Se-young beat unseeded Chinese shuttler Zhang Yiman 21-17, 21-11 to reach the final.
Last year's runner-up will meet Tai Tzu Ying in the final after the fourth seed edged out Olympic champion Chen Yufei 17-21, 21-15, 21-18 in a 72-minute epic.