Singapore Open 2024: Gregoria And Fajar/Rian To Semifinals

Gregoria Mariska Tunjung to the semifinals of the Singapore Open 2024 (doc. PBSI).

JAKARTA Women's singles Gregoria Mariska Tunjung and men's doubles Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto compactly qualified for the semifinals of the Singapore Open 2024.

Gregoria first locked the top four tickets after winning over seventh seed from China, Wang Zhi Yi, through a rubber game with a score of 21-13, 13-21, and 24-22 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, Friday, May 31, 2024, WIB night.

This is the second consecutive victory Gregoria has won over Wang. Of their total five meetings, this was the third win of the badminton player from Wonogiri.

Gregoria's next trip will be subjected to a tough test. The reason is, he will meet the tournament's first seed, namely the representative of South Korea, An Se-young.

On paper, this will be the seventh meeting between the two players. In the previous six meetings, Gregoria had not won once.

"Tomorrow against An Se-young. He is not an easy opponent. I want to try my best, I hope for the best results," said Gregoria in the statement.

Meanwhile, Fajar/Rian, who became the seventh seed in this tournament, qualified for the semifinals after beating second seed from China, Liang Wei Sidang/Wang Chang, two straight games with a score of 21-17 and 21-9.

This is the third victory for Fajar/Rian out of a total of eight meetings between them or the first after four consecutive defeats against the pair.

"We are grateful to be back in the semifinals and indeed several times our chart from the beginning of the year has always met them. Surely we both know. Today we are better prepared for what we want to play," said Rian.

In the semifinals, Fajar/Rian will meet the Danish pair, Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, who qualified after beating fourth seed from Malaysia, Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik.

"Faced with Kim/Anders in the semifinals. They are experienced players, only won at the 2024 Malaysia Masters last week. His confidence is definitely increasing. We don't want to lose, we will prepare the best strategy," said Fajar.

Indonesia actually has three representatives in the quarter-finals. However, the women's doubles pair Apriyani Rahayu Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti failed to break into the semifinals after being held by the Japanese pair, Namibia Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida.