Yeo Jia Min stretches world No. 4 Yamaguchi to rubber set
Singapore's Yeo Jia Min was four points from a quarter-final spot in the Badminton Asia Championships in Wuhan, China, yesterday.
The world No. 32 faced world No. 4 Akane Yamaguchi in the women's singles second round and stretched her Japanese opponent to 21-18, 8-21, 21-17.
After losing the close first set, Yeo, 20, found her groove in the second to dominate Yamaguchi, 21.
Yeo led 11-8, and then mustered 10 consecutive points to force the rubber.
The final set saw them taking turns to lead, until Yamaguchi raced to 18-14.
Yeo claimed the next three points, but was unable to keep the momentum and lost 21-17.
Despite her resilient performance, Yeo was saddened.
"Actually, I'm disappointed because I think I didn't perform as well today although the match was close," she said."I had trouble with running because of some discomfort."
In today's quarter-finals, Yamaguchi will meet India's Saina Nehwal.
Singapore also had their quarter-final hopes dashed by Japanese shuttlers in the women's doubles .
Jin Yujia and Lim Ming Hui lost to the third-seeded Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara 21-7, 21-11.
Meanwhile, China's Lin Dan's campaign was halted by Taiwan's world No. 5 Chou Tien Chen, who won 21-10, 21-10 and will next meet Japan's Kenta Nishimoto.
But China's Chen Long trounced Malaysia's Chong Wei Feng 21-16, 21-17 and will face Vietnam's Tien Minh Nguyen.
Also through is Japan's world No. 1 Kento Momota, who beat Hong Kong's Lee Cheuk Yiu 21-10, 21-11.
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