London: Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen and Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen will meet in the men’s final of the All England Championships after taking contrasting routes through their last-four matches on Saturday.
World number seven Axelsen had to hit back to beat Malaysian world number 13 Lee Zii Jia 17-21, 21-13, 21-19. Chou had an easier ride as his opponent, Denmark’s Anders Antonsen, retired while trailing 17-14 in the first game.
Axelsen is bidding to avenge last year’s final defeat against Kento Momota as he looks to build on his recent success at the Barcelona Masters and Indonesia Open.
“It was a really tough match. Lee made it really tough for me but I just tried to stay in there and do my best,” Axelsen said.
“I managed to keep calm through to the end of the third game, but luck was also on my side as it could have gone either way.”
In the women’s singles semi-finals, Chinese world number one Chen Yu Fei beat Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara 21-14, 23-21 and Taiwan’s second-seeded Tai Tzu-ying defeated Spain’s Carolina Marin 19-21, 21-13, 21-11.
Indonesia’s Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva Oktavianti beat Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith for a place in the mixed doubles final. The 21-15, 21-23, 21-11 victory booked a showdown with Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai for the title.
