Zheng/Huang On Song – World Tour Finals: Day 4
Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong and defending champions Wang Yi Lyu and Huang Dong Ping set up a repeat of last year’s title clash at the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals.
· DEV SUKUMAR
While Zheng and Huang avenged their group loss to Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino, Wang and Huang’s forceful performance proved too much of a challenge for Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai.
Zheng and Huang had fallen to a surprise straight-games defeat to Watanabe and Higashino in their opening group clash. Today the world champions stepped it up from the opening point, and the Japanese were all at sea. Watanabe, who has been exceptional in defence on earlier days, was scratchy, and the Japanese managed just seven points in the opening game.
To their credit, they managed to turn it around. Watanabe got his act together, smashing with sting and often catching the Chinese flat-footed with his softer variations. Zheng wasn’t given as many opportunities to fire his big smashes, and the Japanese were right back in the match.