Lu Ching Yao and Yang Po Han’s form continued to hold, as they made their second final in two weeks.

The Chinese Taipei pair, runners-up at the YONEX French Open 2022 last Sunday, overcame Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen 21-14 15-21 21-14 in the semifinals of the HYLO Open 2022. It was their third win over the Danes in eight matches.

“I’m so happy because the Danish pair is outstanding and we’ve lost a few times to them,” Yang told Badminton Europe. “The key was the faith and the trust in each other. Our new coach offered some new methods and we’ve improved our technique and that’s why we’ve been playing well.”

“They’re playing with confidence at the moment,” said Astrup. “The last two times we met them we played very well and dominated them, but today was more tricky.”

Lu/Yang were joined in the final shortly after by compatriots Lee Jhe-Huei/Yang Po-Hsuan, who made it an all-Chinese Taipei title affair with a straight-games win over Ben Lane/Sean Vendy, 21-9 21-17.

It was overall a good day for Chinese Taipei, with Chou Tien Chen beating Toma Junior Popov 21-17 21-11 to make his fourth final of the year. Chou faces Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, 21-18 21-15 winner over Kidambi Srikanth.

“I really like this city and every time I come back, I come back to my younger me. I feel younger and stronger,” Chou said.

Other Highlights

♦ Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto/Lisa Ayu Kusumawati repeated their French Open victory over second seed Thom Gicquel/Delphine Delrue for their third straight win over the French pair. The Indonesians face China’s Feng Yan Zhe/Huang Dong Ping in the final.

♦ Women’s doubles will be an all-Thai affair with Benyapa Aimsaard/Nuntakarn Aimsaard beating Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand Pullela and Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai overcoming Zhang Shu Xian/Zheng Yu.

♦ Zhang Yi Man upset third seed Nozomi Okuhara to set up an all-China women’s singles final against Han Yue.