Japanese Kumamoto Masters 2024: Gregoria's Hope Is Still Burning

Gregoria Mariska Tunjung advanced to the semifinals of the Japanese Kumamoto Masters 2024 (doc. PBSI).

JAKARTA Gregoria Mariska Tunjung's women's singles hope to defend her title at the 2024 Kumamoto Japan Masters remains on track after she reaches the semifinals.

The reigning champion qualified for the semifinals after securing victory over Danish women's singles Mia Blichfeldt, with the final score 21-16 and 21-18 on Friday, November 15, 2024.

"I think compared to the last meeting, Mia was more daring to implement the strategy she wanted. Today I became more difficult to overcome," said Gregoria.

This is Gregoria's fifth win of a total of six of their competitive or second consecutive clashes this year after the Denmark Open 2024 in October.

Gregoria's only defeat to Blichfeldt came five years ago in the first round of the 2019 Singapore Open. At that time, the 2017 junior world champion gave up in two straight games.

In the semifinals tomorrow, November 16, 2024, Gregoria will meet Sim Yu-jin. The women's singles from South Korea reached the semifinals after beating Canadian singles, Michelle Li.

Sim on their way to the final recorded beating first seed Wang Zhi Yi (China) in two straight games when they faced off in the second half of the tournament.

"I want to appear cleaner tomorrow. Today I made a lot of mistakes myself. Hopefully tomorrow I can enjoy the match and it won't be burdened," said Gregoria.

Gregoria is one of four Indonesian representatives who reached the semifinals. The other three consist of two men's doubles and men's singles.

The two men's doubles faced each other, namely Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto and Leo Rolly Carnando/Bagas Maulana. The men's singles still have Jonatan Christie as the only one who has reached the semifinals.