Tai halts title holder Okuhara

Top-ranked Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan remains in the hunt for her fourth All England Open title after defeating holder Nozomi Okuhara of Japan 21-10, 21-11 in the quarter-finals in Birmingham yesterday.

Tai, 27, needed just 35 minutes to finish off the Japanese for a place in the semi-finals of the women’s singles.

In today’s last four, Tai, the 2020 Olympic silver medallist, will meet South Korea’s An Se-Young who also took just 35 minutes to beat Iris Wang of the US in the quarter-finals.

Tai, 27, beat Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the last-16 round on Thursday.

Tai, who has won the All England crown in 2017, 2018 and 2020, was upset in the quarter-finals at last week’s German Open.

Two-time All England champion Okuhara was playing in her first major tournament after an injury at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The 27-year-old Japanese won the All England title last…