An cruises into final as China's singles campaign ends at Asiad badminton

NAGOYA, Japan, Sept 28 (Xinhua) -- Defending champion An Se-young of South Korea defeated China's Chen Yufei 21-5, 21-12 on Monday to reach the women's singles final at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

The high-profile semifinal between two of the world's best players finished in surprisingly one-sided fashion. The women's singles semifinals featured the world's top four shuttlers and had been widely expected to produce tight contests, but top-seeded An wrapped up victory in just 40 minutes.

"We have played each other so many times that we know what the other does, so I put more weight on that going in. That is why I got a good result," An said.

"More than I expected. What has grown is that I am much calmer, and my confidence has come on a lot," An said, reflecting on her progress since beating Chen in the Hangzhou 2022 final to claim gold.

In the other semifinal, Japan's Akane Yamaguchi defeated China's Wang Zhiyi 21-11, 22-20 in a rematch of their recent team final encounter, when Wang had produced a decisive comeback to help China claim the team title.

Yamaguchi took the first game and, despite Wang saving a match point, closed out the second 22-20.

"After facing each other in the team event over the past couple of days, both of us made more targeted preparations," Wang said.

"I think I was able to gain and learn a lot from today's match," she added.

China's losses to An and Yamaguchi ended its hopes of singles gold at the Games. Earlier, Chinese men's singles stars Li Shifeng and Shi Yuqi, the Hangzhou champion and runner-up respectively, had exited in the round of 32 and round of 16.

In the men's singles semifinals, Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn defeated Indonesia's Alwi Farhan 21-13, 21-15, while Singapore's Loh Kean Yew beat South Korea's Yoo Tae-bin 21-19, 19-21, 21-12.

There was an upset in the mixed doubles, where China's world No. 1 pair and title favorites Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping fell 21-12, 21-14 to Indonesia's Amri Syahnawi and Nita Violina Marwah.

"We don't look like we have solutions and we seem to always be playing to our opponents' rhythm," Huang said. "The male player is not very tall, but he's so fast. If we can't keep up with him, then it will be quite hard for us to attack."

China's other mixed doubles pair, Jiang Zhenbang and Wei Yaxin, reached the final with a 21-13, 21-9 win over Chinese Taipei's Ye Hong-wei and Nicole Gonzales Chan.

In the men's doubles semifinals, China's Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang battled for an hour to overcome Indonesia's Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri 21-17, 13-21, 21-9, while Indonesia's Leo Rolly Carnando and Daniel Marthin upset South Korea's top pair Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae 21-11, 21-14.

In the women's doubles, China's Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning came from a game down to beat Malaysia's Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan 16-21, 22-20, 21-12.

The Chinese pair will face Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee in the final after the South Korean duo eliminated Japan's Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi 21-13, 21-9.

All five individual gold medals will be decided on Tuesday.