Ratchanok Intanon lost to arch-rival Akane Yamaguchi in a thrilling semi-final at the season-ending Dubai World Superseries Finals 2017 yesterday. Yamaguchi awaits the winner of the second semi-final between world No.3 PV Sindhu of India and No.8 Chen Yufei of China. Yamaguchi came out strong in the second game and raced to 11-2 and 16-4 leads before the Thai staged a mini rally. The decider was another see-saw battle, with Ratchanok winning seven straight points at one stage. They face the winners of the second semi-final between Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia and Zheng Siwei and Chen Qingchen of China.

Source: Bangkok Post December 17, 2017 00:11 UTC