Jonatan Christie of Indonesia booked a final clash with world No 1 Kento Momota of Japan after defeating Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark 21-14, 21-14 in the semifinals on Saturday.
Top seed Momota ousted Sai Praneeth B. of India 21-18, 21-12 in the other semifinal to move a step closer to defend his title on home soil.
In women’s singles, Nozomi Okuhara stopped the amazing run by Michelle Li of Canada, who shocked world No 1 Tai Tzu-Ying of Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals. In the final, the No 3 seed will face off against compatriot Akane Yamaguchi, who upset China’s All England champion Chen Yufei 21-15, 21-15.
Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia are ready to put up a show in the men’s doubles final as they came from behind to register a 16-21, 21-11, 21-18 win over Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen of China in the semifinal. They will fight countrymen Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan for the Japan Open title.
Women’s doubles final will see top seeds Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara of Japan play against Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong of South Korea.
Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping, the only Chinese shuttlers that made the final at the tournament, stormed to a 21-10, 21-6 victory over Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying of Malaysia in 31 minutes. The duo has to move past Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva Oktavianti of Indonesia in the mixed doubles final to lift the trophy.
The 2019 Japan Open will conclude on Sunday. The BWF World Tour will move on to Bangkok as the Thailand Open unveils on July 30.
