BWF French Open 2023: Jonatan Christie beats Loh Kean Yew to reach final
Indonesia's fifth seed came through in straight games to set up a decider against Li Shifeng with Chen Yufei meeting Tai Tzu Ying in a repeat of the Tokyo 2020 women's final.
Badminton
Jonatan Christie defeated Singapore's former world champion Loh Kean Yew on Saturday (28 October) to reach the final of the BWF French Open 2023 in Rennes.
The fifth seed from Indonesia took 45 minutes to prevail 21-18, 21-13 and leave him one win from his third title of the season.
There was nothing to choose between the pair early on with Christie taking an 11-10 advantage into the first interval. But the Indonesian got the better of some dazzling net rallies to take the opening game.
The second game was also close but four straight points put Christie into a 15-9 lead which he never looked like relinquishing.
Christie will face Asian Games champion Li Shifeng in the final after he made it five wins from five meetings against Malaysia's Ng Tze Yong.
The eighth seed from the People's Republic of China, and reigning All England champion, beat Lee Zii Jia and Anthony Ginting to reach the last four, and needed 46 minutes to defeat Ng 21-17, 21-12.
Earlier, Olympic champion Chen Yufei set up a repeat of the Tokyo 2020 women's singles final by beating Chinese compatriot He Bingjiao 21-9 in the third.
That was after Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying came through an epic against Japan's Ohori Aya, edging home 22-20 in the decider.
The BWF French Open 2023 is a Super 750 event with qualifying points for the Paris 2024 Olympics on offer. You can watch all the action from finals day live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics app (territorial restrictions apply).
BWF French Open semi-final results:
Women’s singles: [4] Tai Tzu Ying (TPE) def. Ohori Aya (JPN) 20-22, 21-10, 22-20
Mixed doubles: Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Suet (HKG) def. [2] Watanabe Yuta/Highashino Arashi (JPN) 21-19, 21-18
Mixed doubles: [6] Kim Won-ho/Jeong Na-eun (KOR) lost to [8] Jiang Zhenbang/Wei Yaxin (CHN) 17-21, 8-21
Women’s singles: [5] He Bingjiao (CHN) lost to [3] Chen Yufei (CHN) 20-22, 21-19, 9-21
Women’s doubles: Liu Shengshu/Tan Ning (CHN) def. [7] Apriyani Rahayu/Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti (INA) 21-15, 17-21, 21-14
Men’s doubles: He Jiting/Ren Xiangyu (CHN) lost to Muhammad Shohibul Fikri/Bagas Maulana (INA) 16-21, 21-19, 20-22
Women’s doubles: [8] Matsumoto Mayu/Nagahara Wakana (JPN) lost to Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai (THA) 20-22, 21-13, 22-24
Men’s singles: Ng Tze Yong (MAS) lost to [8] Li Shifeng (CHN) 17-21, 12-21
Men’s doubles: [7] Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (DEN) def. [8] Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi (CHN) 21-17, 21-19.
Men’s singles: Loh Kean Yew (SGP) lost to [5] Jonatan Christie (INA) 18-21, 13-21