Tai Tzu Ying pulled off a stunning comeback to defeat World No. 1 An Se Young in a nail-biting semifinal in the BWF World Tour Finals in Hangzhou, China, on Saturday.
Three-time champion Tai, who entered the final-four clash with a 2-10 head-to-head record against South Korea’s An, trailed 10-19 in the deciding game before reeling off six straight points. An broke the streak of her opponent from Chinese Taipei to earn four match points. However, World No. 4 Tai again went on a run of six consecutive points to clinch the tie 19-21, 21-15, 22-20 in an hour and 12 minutes.
“I felt there was no hope in the third game,” Tai told BWF Media after her first win over An in their last seven encounters.
“I was trailing by a lot. She’s someone who makes very few mistakes, so there was a lot of pressure on me. It was tough for me to gain any free points. Towards the end I felt she made a few mistakes as my attack was effective. That was how I caught up with her.”
The 29-year-old Tai will take on Carolina Marin in Sunday’s final after the Spaniard’s 21-17, 19-21, 21-13 win over local favourite Chen Yu Fei in the clash of Olympic champions.
In men’s singles semifinals, Viktor Axelsen defeated fellow Dane Anders Antonsen 21-9, 21-14 while local hope Shi Yu Qi won 21-16, 21-15 against Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie.