MULHEIM AN DER RUHR, Germany, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese players Chen Yufei and He Bingjiao will meet in the women's singles final while top seed Viktor Axelsen from Denmark was shocked in the men's singles semifinals at BWF World Tour German Open here on Saturday.
Third seed and Olympic champion Chen took the semifinal win over her compatriot Zhang Yiman 21-13, 19-21, 21-13 to secure the final position, while He smashed the fourth-seeded South Korean shuttler An Seyoung in two straight games 21-12, 21-15.
"We played a very intensive game and both of us are trying different tactics to make troubles for each other," He said of the match against An.
"Winning against Akane Yamaguchi and An Seyoung in the past two rounds does not prove anything. Now I am looking forward to the final tomorrow against my teammate Chen," He added.
"It seems to be a long time since we met in the final last time," said He. "To wrap up the final berths of major world tournaments is always the target of our team. I'll give one hundred percent to make a great fight tomorrow."
Olympic champion Axelsen was shocked by the 20-year-old Indian talent Lakshya Sen, 21-13, 12-21, 22-20 in a men's singles semifinal.
Sen will meet Thai rising star Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the final on Sunday. The latter defeated the fifth seed Lee Zii Jia from Malaysia 21-13, 21-12 in the other semifinal.
Ou Xuanyi, for the first time in his career, has fought to the finals of both men's doubles and mixed doubles at the same tournament.
Ou paired with Olympic men's doubles silver medalist Liu Yuchen to beat the fifth-seeded Danish pair Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen 21-18, 21-17. Then Ou teamed up with Olympic mixed silver medalist Huang Yaqiong to edge past Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith from England in two straight games 21-18, 21-19.
"Playing two matches is really a challenge for me physically," said Ou, "But it's also a special experience. I'll try my best in both finals tomorrow."
Two-time world champions and top seeds Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan outplayed sixth-seeded Thai duo Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai 21-17, 21-12 in the women's doubles semifinals.
In the other women's doubles semifinal, Zheng Yu and Zhang Shuxian lost to Bulgarian sisters Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva 16-21, 21-18, 21-9.
"The Stoeva sisters are strong opponents and we played lots of long rallies," said Zheng. "German Open is my first tournament to play with new partner Zhang and we are actually very surprised to be through to the semis. This is a huge encouragement for us." ■
