An dominates, Yamaguchi battles through in season finale

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Dec 18 - South Koreas An Se-young dominated Tomoka Miyazaki 21-9 21-6 at badmintons World Tour Finals in Hangzhou on Thursday to continue her chase for a second title at the season ‍finale.

Paris ​Olympics gold medallist An was too experienced for her 19-year-old ‍opponent and used an array of strokes to seal the win and go top of Group A ​after two ​matches.

Reigning world champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan had a tougher day but battled hard in an intense 65-minute clash against Thailands Putri Kusuma Wardani.

The Thai player took the early ‍lead after Yamaguchi let two game points slip away but the Japanese player fought back ​to claim a 22-24 21-19 21-13 ⁠victory.

Thailands Pornpawee Chochuwong bowed out of the tournament due to a recurrence of the same injury that caused her to retire from the Korea Open final against An in September.

I was feeling fine when I ​came here, but after training day here I could feel it again, Chochuwong said.

I forced myself to play yesterday, ‌but today my calf started swelling ​again.

It’s very disappointing and I had a good start, but my body cannot go on and I need to rest.

Japans Kodai Naraoka caused a major upset on the second day of the mens competition at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre by defeating Asian Games gold medalist Li Shifeng 21-16 21-15, handing the Chinese player his second loss in the competition.

Li struggled in the ‍face of relentless pressure from the Japanese player, who dominated at the net to ​secure the win and climb to the top of Group B.

Shi Yuqi takes on Chou Tien-chen later ​in the group.