Vietnamese badminton ace Nguyen Tien Minh (Photo:vietnamnet.vn)
Entering the match confidently on the back of three wins over his opponent, Japanese Kento Momota, Minh stormed to a 4-0 lead in the first set but the world’s fourth best player fought back to bring the score to a draw at 6-6 and never looked back, claiming the set at 21-15.
The second set was tight in the first five points before Kento Momota took control and maintained a five-point advantage until the end to take the set at 21-16.
This is also Kento Momota’s first win over Minh in their four meetings.
In the women’s singles event, Carolina Marin of Spain reached the quarter-finals with a hard-fought win over Pai Yu Po of Chinese Taipei.
In the men’s doubles event, English pair Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge entered the last eight after a three-set win over a Danish pair.
In the mixed doubles event, top-seeded duo Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei sailed through the last four with an easy win. Second-seeded pair Xu Chen and Ma Jin also moved on to the quarter-finals.-
