In the semifinals on Saturday, both Saina and Srikanth will meet tough challenges. While Saina takes on Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei, Srikanth has a hard challenge against top seed Chen Long of China. The other men’s singles semifinal will be an all-Dane affair as Jan O Jorgensen is pitted against compatriot Hans Kristian Vittinghus. In women’s singles, the other semifinal will feature Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi against Korea’s Sung Ji Hyun. The semifinal line-ups are decided in other categories as well. In the first mixed doubles semifinal, England’s husband-wife pair Chris/Gabrielle Adcock will meet the Chinese pair Zhang Nan/Zhao Yunlei; while the other will have the Danish pair Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Christinna Pedersen taking on China’s Liu Cheng/Bao Yixin. In men’s doubles, top seeds Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong will meet Denmark’s Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen while China’s Chai Biao/Hong Wei play with the Japanese pair Hiroyuki Endo/Kenichi Hayakawa. In the women’s doubles first semifinal, China’s Tian Qing/Zhao Yunlei will be challenged by Korea’s Jung Kyung Eun/Kim Ha Na while Japanese top seeds Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi will play China’s Luo Ying/Luo Yu.
In her last Group A match in women’s singles, World No.4 Saina fought a battle of attrition against Korea’s Bae Yeon Ju. The match turned out to be a three-game thriller of the most pulsating kind, before Saina finally defeated the Korean 15-21, 21-7, 21-17. In the first game, Saina looked like winding up things as she led 10-4 against the Korean. But the eighth-ranked Bae, clawed back to level 14-14 and then won a series of points to take the game 21-15. Saina bounced back in the next game and kept the Korean woman guessing from a lead of 6-2 at early stages. But Bae produced some wonderful shots to level 6-6. Saina changed tactics and led 11-6 mid-way through the game and afterwards, reeled out 15 points out of 16 to leave the Korean stranded. In the third and deciding game, Bae began with a lead of 5-1 but Saina came back into the game by using her power smashes to good effect. Both players did their best and at mid-way mark Bae led Saina 11-10. Afterwards, Saina went to a 15-13 lead and taking two more points took the lead to 17-13. The Korean didn’t stop and made the score 16-19. In a do-or-die bid, Saina, brought off two powerful smashes to close the match.
In the afternoon session, India’s K Srikanth fought hard against Denmark’s third-ranked star Jan O Jorgensen. Srikanth just needed to win a game against Jorgensen and that he did by taking the first game 21-17. But Jorgensen played better in the next two games to finally win at 21-17, 12-21, 14-21. While Jorgensen finished on top of Group B, Srikanth was second and he reached the knock-out stage. The other two places were taken by Group A topper Chen Long of China and second placed Hans Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark.
In mixed doubles, England’s Chris/Gabrielle Adcock defeated Germany’s Michael Fuchs/Birgit Michels 21-16, 21-17 and China’s Zhang Nan/Zhao Yunlei beat Korea’s Ko Sung Hyun/Kim Ha Na 21-12, 21-18. Both pairs reached the semifinals of mixed doubles categories and they are joined by the other two pairs; Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Christinna Pedersen of Denmark and Liu Cheng/Bao Yixin of China. Playing their last robin-round matches, the Danish pair, however lost to Korea’s Jung Kyung/ Kim Ha Na 5-21, 18-21. But their earlier victories sealed the semifinal place for them. In mens’ doubles, Japan’s Hiroyuki Endo/Kenichi Hayakawa made it to last four by beating Chinese Taipei’s Lee Sheng Mu/Tsai Chia Hsin 21-8 21-14. In Group B, China’s Chai Biao/Hong Wei won a place in semifinal after defeating Korean World champions Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Choel 15-21 21-15 21-17. In women’s doubles, World champions Tian Qing/Zhao Yunlei stormed into semifinals with a 21-14 21-11 win over Japan’s Miyuki Maeda/Reika Kakiiwa.