Ratchanok stuns world No 1 for Denmark final
Ratchanok Intanon upset world No 1 Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan 21-14 20-22 21-14 to reach the final of the Danisa Denmark Open in Odense on Saturday.
The world No 9 used fast attacking game to shorten points with the old rival and successfully snapped three losing streaks to the Taiwanese in a battle that last 64 minutes.
Ratchanok, already bagged two titles in Bangkok and New Zealand, sets up the final showdown with another arch-rival Akane Yamaguchi of Japan who edged past Chen Yufei of China 10-21 21-18 21-19.
The world No 5 Yamaguchi leads Ratchanok 8-6 in their head-to-head statistics. This will be their fourth encounter in 2017 with the Japanese beating the Thai in the Asia Championships and Korea Open. Ratchanok’s only 2017 win against the Japanese occurred in the All England Open semi-finals in Match.
