Taiwanese badminton star Chou Tien-chen (???) punched his ticket to the men’s singles final of the Indonesia Masters in Jakarta after defeating Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in a three-game semifinal thriller on Saturday.

Chou outdueled Loh 21-16, 21-8, 21-19 in their semifinal match that lasted one hour and 10 minutes on court 1 at Istora Stadium, giving him a 3-2 edge in head-to-head meetings between the two. Their last match was a round of last 16 match at the Indonesia Masters last year, where Chou won in straight games.

The world No. 4 and third-seeded Chou will face the winner between world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and world No. 6 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia in the final.

In his semifinal match on Saturday, Chou leveled with Loh at 10-10 in the opening game before spearheading a comfortable lead to reach match point at 20-16 after a powerful smash down the line. The Singaporean then hit a wide to concede the first game.

Loh rallied in the second game to a three-point lead at 5-2 before moving ahead to capture the next seven consecutive points to widen the gap to 12-2. Chou continued to fall into trouble for the remainder of the set as the Singaporean found game point early at 20-6.

Chou saved the first two game points but failed to save the third as Loh leveled the match at one game apiece.

In the deciding third game, Chou managed to lead 11-9 before having to change ends. However, Loh fought hard to reach level at 16-16.

The two then managed to alternate leads for every point before Chou reached match point at 20-19 after Loh hit a wide. Loh then hit another wide to lose the game and match to Chou, who celebrated his win with shadow badminton to the delight of the crowd.

The Super 500 Indonesia Masters event, held June 7-12, carries a total purse of US$360,000 (NT$10.68 million).

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel