Experience saves the day for former World No 1 Wang

Dubai: Wang Yihan, the former world number one from China, showed plenty of character and determination to beat Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon to virtually secure her spot in the semi-finals of the BWF’s Dubai World Superseries Finals at the Hamdan Sports Complex on Thursday.

Currently ranked number eight in the world, one place behind her Thai opponent, Wang held her nerves in the final set, and profited from overall tournament experience, to win 19-21, 21-19, 21-11, in an hour and four minutes on the main court.

The 27-year-old Shanghai native, who has enjoyed a colourful and successful career that also saw her win the Silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics, extended her career dominance over Ratchanok, seven years her junior, to 11 wins without loss.

Wang’s big match experience really showed when, after losing the opening set and trailing Ratchanok 16-17 in the second set, she held her nerve to win five of the next seven points to level sets.

She took control early in the decider and was able to dominate the exchanges against the aggressive Thai to close out the set and match with far more comfort than expected.

“I told myself that this is okay, that I just have to be positive, and that it’s still possible to do it,” she said. “And if I don’t I can still qualify.”

Although Wang has gone without a win on the tour this year, she will have got a lot of confidence from this victory, which will hold her in good stead when she plays Korea’s Sung Ji Huyn in her final Group B round-robin match on Friday.

She beat Chinese compatriot Wang Shixian, the former world number one, 21-19, 13-21, 21-19 on Wednesday.

Intanon beat Sung Ji-hyun of Korea yesterday and will now have to beat second seed Shixian tomorrow if she hopes to qualify for the semi-finals.

Meanwhile the world’s second-ranked man, Jan Jorgensen from Denmark, is virtually guaranteed a place in the semis after outplaying China’s Tian Houwei 21-17, 21-16 in just 45 minutes.

Jorgensen now has to play the top-seeded titleholder Chen Long in his final league game on Friday.

“I played much better today, and I will try to do the same against him,” the patient Dane said. “It’s important to keep playing my best.”

Earlier Olympic mixed doubles champions and World Superseries Finals titleholders Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei got back on course to qualify for the semi-finals after their opening morning defeat yesterday, following it by beating Chris and Gabby Adcock, the Commonwealth gold medallists from England.

Zhang and Zhao, the recently wedded Chinese combo, got the better of the other husband and wife pair to win 21-17, 21-18.

Meanwhile, the action off-court was equally animated with nearly a thousand school children enjoying the numerous skills challenge activities in the Fanzone after watching the morning’s matches.