Big Leap for Late Qualifier – World Tour Finals: Day 3
Wang Tzu Wei achieved a career-high feat, reaching the semifinals at his very first season finale, the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2019.
· DEV SUKUMAR
The world No.19, who had qualified to the Finals in the very last qualifying event, needed to win a game against Anders Antonsen in the last match of Group A. Although Wang lost the match, 23-21 12-21 21-12 to Antonsen, he qualified in second place from the group behind Kento Momota.
Momota completed his group assignments with a straight-games victory over Jonatan Christie. That meant Antonsen had a shot at qualifying, but he had to win in straight games.
That possibility looked unlikely through the first game against Wang, as the Chinese Taipei player built up a healthy lead and had four game points. Antonsen saved all four and took the lead, but fell behind early in the second. Wang raced to leads of 7-0 and 17-5 to put the game beyond Antonsen.