Taipei: Taiwan's top male badminton player Chou Tien-chen advanced to the men's singles semifinals at the 2026 Thailand Open on Friday after defeating South Korea's Jeon Hyeok-jin in three games.

According to Focus Taiwan, Chou, who is ranked sixth in the world and seeded fourth in the Super 500 tournament, triumphed over world No. 38 Jeon with scores of 21-18, 21-23, 21-14 in a 75-minute match. This victory improved Chou's career head-to-head record against Jeon to 3-1.

This achievement marks Chou's second consecutive semifinal appearance following his performance at the 2026 Asia Championships, where he advanced to the last four before being defeated by China's Shi Yuqi, the eventual champion. Prior to the Asia Championships, Chou had only reached the quarterfinals once in his previous seven tournaments.

Chou is set to face either Thailand's world No. 2 Kunlavut Vitidsarn or India's world No. 11 Lakshya Sen on Saturday. Vitidsarn and Sen are the tournament's second and seventh seeds, respectively.