New Delhi, Jan 17 (IANS) Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie mixed his tactics and kept his nerves in key situations to beat former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the men’s singles semifinals while world no. 1 An Se Young set up a women’s singles summit clash against China’s Wang Zhi Yi in the Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2026, a BWF World Tour Super 750 event organised by the Badminton Association of India, here on Saturday.
Third seed Christie fought back in the opening game from 5-11 to beat the Singaporean 21-18, 22-20 in 46 minutes to reach the men’s singles final. Earlier, An Se Young defeated former champion Ratchnok Intanon of Thailand 21-11, 21-7 while Wang got the better of compatriot Chen Yu Fei 21-15, 23-21 in the women’s singles semifinals.
In the men’s singles semifinal, Loh came out all guns blazing in the opening game and went for quick winners and took a 11-5 lead. But Christie then began engaging the Singaporean in longer rallies and relied on his defensive skills to force errors from his opponents. The Indonesian won six straight points to draw level at 15-15 and then relied on quick net taps and down the line smashes to pocket the opening game.
In the second game, Loh needed time to get back his focus as he sprayed a couple of smashes wide. But once he found his rhythm, it looked like the eighth seed would take the match into the decider as he opened up a 17-13 lead by keeping Christie away from the net. But the Indonesian once again went for quick attacks. Christie needed two match points to close out the match and extended his winning streak over Loh to 9-0.
“In the second game when Loh started to come back, I held my nerves and adapted to the game better and managed to win,” said Christie after the match.
The Indonesian will now face the winner of the other semi-final between Victor Lai of Canada and Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chun-Yi.
Results (so far):
Men’s singles: 3-Jonatan Christie (INA) bt 8-Loh Kean Yew (SGP) 21-18, 22-20
Women’s singles: 1-An Se Young (KOR) bt 7-Ratchanok Intanon (THA) 21-11, 21-7; 2-Wang Zhi Yi (CHN) bt 4-Chen Yu Fei (CHN) 21-15, 23-21
Women’s doubles: 1-Liu Sheng Shu/Tan Ning (Chn) bt 6-Baek Ha Na/Lee So Hee (Kor) 21-12; 17-21, 21-14; 5-Yuki Fukushima/Mayu Matsumoto (Jpn) bt 2-Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan (Mas) 21-16, 21-13
Mixed doubles: 3-Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Supissara Paewsampran (Tha) bt 1-Feng Yan Zhe/Huang Dong Ping (Chn) 16-21, 21-19, 21-16.
–IANS
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