Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI:Former World Champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand maintained her chances of advancing to the semi finals from Group B with a comfortable victory over China’s third seed Han Yue in the preliminary league stage of the BWF World Tour Finals. In the match played on Court 1 of the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium, Ratchanok emerged as the 21-17, 21-10 winner in the 38-minute encounter.
Meanwhile, in Group A, Korea’s top seed Se Young and Akane Yamaguchi finished at the top of the standings, securing their places in the semifinals. Se Young topped the group unbeaten, finishing with three wins from three matches, while Yamaguchi ended second with two wins from three matches. Indonesia’s Putri Kusuma Wardani ended third with one point, from one win in three matches, while Tomoka Miyazaki finished last in the four-player group with three losses and no points.
Se Young defeated fourth-seed Yamaguchi in three hard-fought games, coming back after losing the first game to win 13-21, 21-5, 21-14 in 47 minutes. In a match played on the same Court 2, Indonesia’s Putri defeated Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan in two games, winning 21-17, 21-9 in 38 minutes. In the evening session, India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will hope to end their group proceedings with a win over second seeds, Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia, in a Group B encounter.