Pornpawee downs Ratchanok

Sixth seed Pornpawee Chochuwong came from behind to upset fourth seed Ratchanok Intanon in an all-Thai quarter-final at the Korea Open in Suncheon on Friday.

Pornpawee, 22, defeated the former world champion 18-21, 21-12, 21-13 in a battle of players who have just recovered from Covid-19.

Both missed last month’s All England Open after testing positive for Covid-19.

In Saturday’s semi-finals of the World Tour Super 500 event, Pornpawee meets unseeded South Korean Kim Ga-Eun who comfortably beat Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei 21-15, 21-18 in the last eight.

Kim stunned China’s Olympic champion Chen Yufei in the previous round.

In another women’s singles quarter-final, PV Sindhu proved too strong for Busanan Ongbamrungphan.

The Indian third seed defeated the seventh-seeded Thai 21-10, 21-16.

Sindhu next faces a tough assignment against second seed An Se-Young of South Korea…