Momota beats Tommy in Indonesian Open quarters

JAKARTA: Japan’s Kento Momota beat Indonesian shuttler Tommy Sugiarto 21-11 and 21-15 at the Indonesian Open quarter finals on Friday as he dominated his injured hometown rival.

The 23-year-old’s victory vaults him to a semi-final clash with Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen, 19, or Malaysian veteran Lee Chong Wei, who beat Momota Sunday to clinch the Malaysia Open title for an historic twelfth time.

World number eight Momota was in command Friday as Sugiarto struggled to react quickly. “I was moving slower because of the injury — it hurt my reflexes,” said Sugiarto, ranked 16th in the world.

Sugiarto hurt his ankle in an earlier match against Taiwan’s Chou Tien Chen.

India’s HS Prannoy takes on China’s Shi Yuqi while Dane Viktor Axelsen plays Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama in other quarter final matches Friday.

In women’s singles, seventh seed Sung Ji Hyun of Korea sealed her ticket to the semi-finals as she crushed Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon 21-12 and 21-12. Sung will face China’s Chen Yufei who toppled second seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 23-21 and 21-8.

In men’s doubles, number-one ranked Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon heartened the hometown crowd by clinching victory in a tough match against Danish pair Mads Conrad-Petersen and Mads Pieler Kolding.

The Indonesians lost the first game and were down in the second with their backs against the wall, but they managed to rally back to force a victorious third match. The final score was 20-22, 22-20 and 21-18.

In women’s doubles, Indonesia bowed out as Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu lost to Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota of Japan 21-14 and 22-20.