体坛英语新闻：China secure mixed doubles title of BWF Fuzhou Open

FUZHOU, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese badminton star Chen Long and Shi Yuqi were beaten in semifinals in men's singles while Chinese mixed doubles pairs secured the title of 2018 HSBC Badminton World Federation World Tour Super 750 China Fuzhou Open here on Saturday.

The world number one in men's singles Kento Momota from Japan took 97 minutes to revenge the Olympics champion, sixth-seeded Chen Long 19-21, 21-17, 21-17. The Japanese rising star was defeated by Chen at French Open semis two weeks ago.

"I was not focused enough on the play while leading the third set 13-9, " Chen told Xinhua, "Momota was very patient and stuck to his style on all occasions. He did a better job today and I need to discuss some details by reviewing the game with my coach."

Second seeded Shi Yuqi holds a 2-1 head-to-head record against Chou Tien Chen coming into Saturday's semifinals. But Shi was obviously out of form and lost the match in just 35 minutes.

"I'm not feeling good today so I want to slow down the pace," said Shi, "he did not relax after I called the timeout, keeping pressuring me on the net."

Fourth-seeded Chen Yufei in women's singles beat Olympic champion Carolina Marin from Spain 11-21, 21-15, 21-13. It's Chen's first career victory against Marin after losing the previous two encounters at China Open and Japan Open this season.

"Marin is good at playing fast and strong, so I tried to drag the pace to stop her consecutive points," said Chen, "The win gave me much confidence to be more eager for the title tomorrow."

The 8th seed He Bingjiao did not break the non-victory record against Japanese Nozomi Okuhara by losing the semis 21-13, 21-13.

Chinese mixed doubles pairs kept the dominance of the semis. Second-seeded pair Wang Yilyu/Huang Dongping outplayed the world 5th Yuta Watanabe Arisa/Higashino from Japan 21-14, 21-6, grabbing the five straight wins against the Japanese duo and booking one spot of the final.

The first seeds Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong took only 24 minutes to snatch the win over their compatriots He Jiting/Du Yue 21-12, 21-12, to secure the other berth of the final.

The third seed pair in men's doubles Liu Cheng/Zhang Nan failed to challenge the world number one duo Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo from Indonesia 17-21, 21-18, 21-14. He Jiting/Tan Qiang fought into the final by knocking down the Indonesian pair Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan 2-0.

In women's doubles, the fifth seed pair Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara from Japan and the seven seed Lee So Hee/Shin Seung Chan from South Korea respectively defeated their opponents to meet in the final.