CHANGZHOU, China, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Carolina Marin and Tai Tzu Ying will meet at women's singles final of 2019 BWF China Open by ousting Sayaka Takahashi and Chen Yufei respectively on Saturday.
Tai Tzu Ying from Chinese Taipei had a 12-1 horrible head-to-head record to China's Chen Yufei before Saturday's match. However, it looked like Chen could crash Tai easily after lifting the first set by 21-6.
"Today's wind above the court is stronger than the last two matches," Tai complained after the match. "I had to take a lot of effort to control the shuttlecocks, which made me on the difficult side."
After changing the side, Tai recovered to win the second set 21-13, forcing Chen to play the third set.
Both players seemed to be familiar with their opponent's actions, creating long rallies and leaving small margin for scores. Chen saw the match point first on 20-19, but Tai stayed calm and fought back for consecutive points to defeat Chen.
"My desire to win was not strong enough when I caught the match point," Chen said after the match.
In the other semifinal, Spaniard Marin fought 72 minutes to upset Japanese player Sayaka Takahashi. Takahashi won the first set and made a gritty fight-back from 14-20 to 18-20 after a misjudgment in the third one.
"When I was leading 20-15, I thought I just need score one more point to terminate the game, but it was a mistake," Marin said after the match. "I couldn't think in that way, it gave me some distraction."
Marin's distraction had already handed out her victory trend in the beginning set. Starting smoothly, Marin built up her lead on 16-12, but her form suddenly dipped. Takahashi fought back six points in a row to reverse the trend and finally won the set.
It seemed Takahashi continued her momentum in the start of the second set, leading 10-6. However, Marin conjured a stunning comeback to won 15 of the next 18 point, forcing exhausted Takahashi into the third set.
A misjudgment occurred in the final set when Marin scored by hit back the shuttlecock from ground floor. The BWF's official denied Takahashi's challenge. Marin then widened her priority to 20-14. But the Japanese showed no sign of letting up, before Marin's final score, the Takahashi fought back four points in a row.
"I came back from a serious injury within seven months and now I reached the final, I can't believe it," said Marin after the match.
When asked to talk about her further plan, the world champion said, "my goal is to get gold medal in the Olympic Games next year."
