Tai Bows Out With Knee Injury
A left knee injury that Tai Tzu Ying picked up at the French Open put paid to her campaign in the semifinals of the Fuzhou China Open 2019 today against Nozomi Okuhara.
· DEV SUKUMAR
The top seed retired during the mid-game interval of the third game, with Okuhara leading 19-21 21-12 11-6. The Japanese, who is in her sixth final of 2019, will have the opportunity to pick up her first title of the season when she takes on either Chen Yu Fei or Michelle Li.
The first semifinal lasted 53 minutes – most of it showcasing Tai’s versatility in shot-making, and equally, her profligacy. The world No.2 was generous in gifting away points, many of it hard-earned, with shots wide of the lines. While Okuhara was her steady, consistent self, she would have been heartened by the sheer number of points that her opponent leaked.
Yet, it was quite a tribute to Tai’s abilities that she did manage to edge past Okuhara for the first game, having clamped down on her mistakes at the end. But the errors continued to mount in the second game, and the first hint that something was not all right with her physically came when she let a net shot fall unchallenged.