The rivalry between the world’s top two women’s singles players, Akane Yamaguchi and An Se Young, continued to blossom as they made their third title faceoff this year, at the YONEX German Open 2023.

Yamaguchi beat An in the PETRONAS Malaysia Open final, while An avenged that defeat a week later in India, before going on to win the DAIHATSU Indonesia Masters over Carolina Marin. The Korean will therefore be looking for a hat-trick of titles.

In semifinal action on Saturday, An shot past He Bing Jiao 21-12 21-13, while Yamaguchi was also dominant over Chen Yu Fei, beating the Olympic champion 21-18 21-16.

In mixed doubles, Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping lined up for a third straight HSBC BWF World Tour title as they beat Hiroki Midorikawa/Natsu Saito in the semifinals of the YONEX German Open 2023.

The fifth seeds, champions at the DAIHATSU Indonesia Masters and PRINCESS SIRIVANNAVARI Thailand Masters, will take on Korea’s Kim Won Ho/Jeong Na Eun. Huang Dong Ping is in her fourth straight final. After pairing with Wang Yi Lyu to the India Open final, Huang joined forces with Feng and the duo have had an unbeaten run of 16 matches so far.

Korea had a good day overall, with Kim in sight of a double as he and Choi Sol Gyu made the men’s doubles final against compatriots Kang Min Hyuk/Seo Seung Jae.

Another Korean pair, Baek Ha Na/Lee So Hee, made the women’s doubles final, where they face India Open champions Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida.

Other Highlights:

• Former world No.1 Kento Momota’s impressive run came to a rather tame end in the semifinals. The two-time world champion, whose run to the last four had included wins over Shi Yu Qi, Brian Yang and Kenta Nishimoto, looked all at sea against Li Shi Feng, who will take on Ng Ka Long Angus in the title round.
• Ng overcame younger compatriot Lee Cheuk Yiu 21-14 14-21 21-15, and will seek to break a three-year long title drought.

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