Japan Open 2023: Silence Akane Yamaguchi, Gregoria To Semifinals

JAKARTA - Women's singles Gregoria Mariska Tunjung successfully reached the semifinals of the Japan Open 2023. She defeated first seed and host representative Akane Yamaguchi.

Gregoria had to fight for 62 minutes to beat Akane 21-11, 11-21, and 21-18 at Yoyogi Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan, Friday, July 28, 2023 evening WIB.

The seventh seed will face He Bing Jiao. China's fifth seeded women's singles reached the semifinals after stopping Malaysia's representatives, Beiwen Zhang, two straight games 21-13 and 21-18.

Gregoria's escape gave Indonesia three representatives in the semifinals of the BWF Super 750 event. The other two representatives who managed to extend their journey were the men's doubles and men's singles numbers.

From the men's doubles, tickets were secured as number one in the world, Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto. This pair passed after defeating veteran pair Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan.

In the semifinals tomorrow, the Korean Open runner-up last week will face gold medalist at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics from Chinese Taipei, namely Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin.

Obviously this will be a tough test for Fajar/Rian. The reason is, Lee/Wang entered the last four after defeating the Indian pair who were on the rise as well as the third seed Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty.

Satwiksairaj/Chirag themselves just won the Korea Open last week. They raised the title after stopping the resistance of Fajar/Rian.

"Tomorrow I meet Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin from Chinese Taipei, of course not just any opponent. Against Satwik/Chirag, they performed extraordinary with a high fighting spirit, as well as a big power. We have to be extra vigilant," said Fajar.

Meanwhile, from the men's singles number, the top four tickets were pocketed by Jonatan Christie. The fifth seed qualified after defeating Thailand's third seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn in two straight games.

Jonathan, who is the owner of the 2018 Asian Games gold medal, will then be Lakshya Sen. The men's singles from India got tickets for the last four after repatriating the host's representative Koki Watanabe.

Meanwhile, apart from Hendra/Ahsan, Febriana Dwi Puji Kusuma/Amalia Cahaya Pratiwi's doubles steps also stopped. They lost against fourth seed from Korea, Kim So Yeong/Kong Hee Yong.