Ratchanok edges past Yamaguchi

Thai faces Marin in Jakarta semi-finals

Thailand’s eighth seed Ratchanok Intanon stunned top-ranked Akane Yamaguchi to reach the semi-finals of the US$1.25 million BWF Indonesia Open in Jakarta yesterday.

The 28-year-old Thai rallied to beat the Japanese 18-21, 25-23, 21-16 in one hour and 13 minutes in the World Tour Super 1000 event.

Ratchanok and her 26-year-old opponent are now 11-11 in their head-to-head meetings.

The 2013 world champion is seeking her first title of the year with her last win coming at the 2022 Malaysia Open in July.

In the women’s singles semi-finals today, Ratchanok faces sixth seed Carolina Marin of Spain who defeated third seed Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan 21-18, 21-13 in the quarter-finals.

It’s been over two years since Marin and Tai last faced each other.

That was in January 2021, when they made three finals in…