As it happened - BWF Badminton World Tour Finals 2022: Day 4 - Viktor Axelsen edges Naraoka Kodai in epic nail-biter, to face Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in final

Badminton's grand season finale, the BWF World Tour Finals 2022 are under way in Bangkok, Thailand.

We have reached the semi-finals of the tournament involving the tour's top eight players/pairs across the five events of men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles at Nimibutr Arena on Saturday, 10 December 2022.

Our daily preview and order of play can be found here.

Recap the first three days below:

• Day 3 - Indonesians Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, Jonatan Christie progress as semi-final field set
• Day 2 - Chia/Soh eliminated in MD, Viktor Akxelsen romps, all to play for in MS Group B
• Day 1 - Axelsen, Loh Kean Yew, Yamaguchi Akane open with wins

Olympics.com will provide live updates throughout the day from the Thai capital, which you can re-live below.

All times below are Thailand Standard Time (UTC/GMT +7 hours). Most recent updates at the top.

21:16 - Last but not least

And to end the day, two-time defending mixed doubles champions Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai booked the last final's berth with a 24-22, 16-21, 21-14 win against Rinov Rivaldy/Pitha Haningtyas Mentari.

20:40 - Axelsen: "I dodged a bullet"

"For sure (the toughest match of Finals), maybe close to the entire year. There was everything in this match - temper, both the good and the bad, good plays, the mental game. Everything the sport has to offer and I was happy to be a part of it. I respect "Kodai a lot; he’s up and coming and has a bright future. Today was a fun game.

"He played well. I don’t have any excuses at all. I didn’t control it as well as I did in the group matches and he could have won the match. I was also a little bit lucky but stepped up in crucial parts of the game. You have to be able to win when everything is not coming together so I was happy to get the win today.

Physically I feel OK so let’s see. Hopefully I can play well tomorrow. It’s not easy for anyone. I’m just happy I made the final right now. I dodged a bullet today, you could say".

20:37 - Naraoka: Next time, I want to win

"He’s better than me and has won this event many times so I wanted to take the first game. I was tired but I wanted to keep running until I couldn’t move anymore.

"Viktor’s got a great smash and I wanted to deny him that by being aggressive and taking it to him. After winning the first game, I wasn’t sure whether to go for it in the second or take it easy. I had a chance but I failed to captialise which is frustrating.

"I stayed close with Viktor today. Hopefully next time I can be closer - or win, even".

20:03 - Viktor Axelsen survives Naraoka Kodai scare

It took 1 hour, 23 minutes and a sixth match point but the defending men's singles champion is headed back to the final.

Axelsen came from behind to beat the tour's most promising player in Naraoka 21-23, 21-19, 21-18 and will play Ginting for his third championship. Two days after being outclassed by the Dane, Naraoka was a different man on this night, pushing Axelsen to the brink of elimination and missing out on a perfectly good opportunity to stage what would have been the upset of upsets.

A day after losing to Prannoy H S, world No. 1 Axelsen was far from his best but found a way, coming back from 17-19 down in the second game to even the set count before taking the decider - but not before Naraoka saved five match points.

19:07 - Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong cruise

The top-ranked pair swiftly dismissed Malaysia's Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing in just 27 minutes, 21-10, 21-15.

Zheng/Huang never fell behind in remaining perfect at this competition.

18:10 - Ginting says final will be 'strategy war'

"In the last set, Jonatan was on the good side. He could do a lot more on the court. I tried to get as many points. After the interval it’s not easy for me to get a point. I tried to keep up and keep a good strategy.

"Whoever my opponent is for the final he will be more tough. Axelsen and Kodai, both of them are good players. I will prepare myself after this and discuss with my coach what to do tomorrow.

"It is not easy. Me and my opponent on the court, it’s like a strategy war. I’ll try hard not to make mistakes".

17:46 - Anthony Sinisuka Ginting makes 2nd final

In an all-Indonesian tie, the Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist edges out Jonatan Christie 21-15, 21-11, 21-18 and will face either Viktor Axelsen or Japan's Naraoka Kodai on finals day.

Ginting raced out to 4-0 lead to start the deciding game and was up 14-6. But from there Christie clawed his way back, tying the score at 18 apiece.

Yet it wasn't meant to be for Christie as Ginting won the next three points to reach his first final in three years.

16:37 - Liu Yu Chen/Ou Xuan Yi prevail

The men's doubles team from the Republic of China denied an all-Indonesian final as they outlasted Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto 22-20, 11-21, 21-19.

In a 57-minute tightrope that came down to the decider, Liu/Ou won six of the last eight points to progress, pouncing on the second match point. They will meet the Daddies on Finals Day.

15:51 - Tai on her comeback

"Today I played calm. I didn’t change anything for the second game. I simply focused on trying to get back in it and she made some mistakes that helped me win the game.

"Tomorrow I won’t try to play fast like Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi plays very fast. The solution is to just try to keep up with Yamaguchi and think later".

15:29 - Tai Tzu Ying drops He Bing Jiao

The world No. 3 from Chinese Taipei orchestrated an amazing comeback in the second game to take out He 21-18, 21-14, setting up a date with Yamaguchi in the final.

Tai trailed 11-5 in the second set before going on to win seven of the next eight points to even the match. He - who had beaten Tai in two in the group phase - had no response as Tai allowed only two points the rest of the way.

For their careers, Tai owns He's number with an 11-4 head-to-head record.

15:11 - Ahsan/Setiawan on progressing to final

Setiawan: "I think they played well today. It was not easy to kill them off. In the first set, they were good but in the second set, we tried to come back. Lucky that we did.

"We must be confident. We will do our best tomorrow".

Ahsan: "My condition is not very good but we tried hard until the end of the match".

14:52 - Who's your Daddies

The world championships runners-up advanced to the final after coming from behind to beat the Malaysian duo of Ong YeewSin/Teo Ee Yi 17-21, 21-13, 21-19.

In the final, Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan will face either their countrymen Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto or the Chinese team of Liu Yu Chen/Ou Xuan Yi.

14:50 - Chen on ending season:

"I was fine in terms of stamina. I have adapted well from my long matches from the past few days. I had no problem with my energy levels, I think I was just not decisive enough. I couldn’t penetrate with a few attacks and after that I was a bit tentative. I kept making adjustments but I think ultimately I was too slow and was just following her pace.

"(Yamaguchi) is an outstanding player with great ability. Somedays she might not do something well yesterday, but today she does well. As an outstanding player, she is very adaptable. This is something that I have to learn from.

"I’d say I’m just average and consistent. I believe I can do better, and I hope I can do better next year. Although I have been consistently making finals, but in the end, I didn’t play up to my standard".

14:48 - Yamaguchi: "In control with confidence"

"I was on the difficult end in the first game but early on, I got the sense that she was a little off and her mistakes helped me grab the lead. But she got back in the game and I panicked, which led to errors and her closing the gap.

"I was sure I could be in control with confidence in the second game. After winning the first I wasn’t in a hurry, read the game and used the entire court. I took my chances well, too".

13:35 - Yamaguchi Akane overwhelms Chen Yu Fei

The two-time defending world champion put on a masterclass performance against the Olympic champion, knocking out her Chinese opponent in a mere 35 minutes 21-19, 21-10.

The first game was what one would expect from a match pitting arguably the two best female singles players on the tour, but the second game was all Yamaguchi who won 13 of the first 15 points and never looked back with Chen looking unsually flat.

The two squared off during the group round when Chen prevailed - only her ninth win against the Japanese in 24 career meetings - but on this day, Yamaguchi made absolutely sure there would be no repeat with a place in the final at stake.

13:23 - Nuntakarn Aimsaard: "Most unexpected"

"Reaching the final has been most unexpected for us. It was a dream come true just to get to the semi-final. We came here and just tried to play our best. Every match has been an obstacle for us and we are very happy to be in the final.

"We played about the same as yesterday but the circumstances were a little different with the pressure. We had to exercise more control of the shuttle.

"We won’t expect anything tomorrow because everything so far has been against all expectations. We’ll just try to enjoy the match and have fun".

12:47 - Show goes on for Thai sister act

The host country's last hope of these Finals have kept the flame alive as sisters Benyapa and Nuntakarn Aimsaard defeated Jeong Na Eun/Kim Hye Jeong in the other WD semi-final 22-20, 21-15.

The Thai pair now have won four straight against their opponets from the Republic of Korea - including Friday in their last group contest.

12:43 - Jia on reaching final

"We need to communicate more than today. By talking more I think we will play better tomorrow.

"As long as we’re in the final, we want to win. Every player here is in top eight and everybody wants to win".

12:16 - Chen/Jia progress

It's the two-time defending champions in 39 minutes, a clincal 21-19, 21-13 victory over their compatriots.

Zhang/Zheng managed to stick around in the first game but Chen/Jia were in the driver's seat in the second, never trailing throughout. Zhang/Zheng saved two match points in a show of fight but it was as close as they would get.

11:00 - And we're off

The semi-final round has kicked off at Nimibutr Arena with an all-Republic of China tie between Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian/Zheng Yu in the women's doubles.

The two pairs were in the same group during the round-robin phase with Chen/Jia winning in three.