Tai Tzu Ying takes on familiar foe Sung Ji Hyun in the Women's singles semi-final of 2017 All England Championships at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham on Saturday.
The world number one outclassed Rio Olympic silver medalist PV Sindhu of India in just 34 minutes in her quarter-final outing yesterday. Despite featuring only in her first tournament of the ongoing year, the 2016 Dubai Superseries Final winner was completely in control of the match, which she won 21-14, 21-10. On the other hand, Sung clinched a hard-fought battle against eighth seed Saina Nehwal 22-20, 22-20.
Tai has begun from where she left last year. After winning four titles, including two - Hong Kong Open and Dubai World Superseries - towards the end of the season, the Taiwanese shuttler decided to make a return only in Birmingham and she has been in wonderful form so far. She has not dropped a game yet and romped to easy wins against Sindhu and Nitchaon Jindapol and prevailed in a hard-fought battle against Japan's Minatsu Mitani on Thursday.
The 22-year-old is favourite to win today's clash against Sung, whom she has played 19 times in the past, winning 10 of them with the recent one being the Superseries Finals in Dubai, in which the South Korean had no answers to her opponent's precise net play. The two met seven times in the last year, including a clash at the All England Championships Round of 16, which Tai won in straight games.
Sung also has been consistent in the recent past, reaching the final stages of Superseries tournaments. However, she will have to be at her best if she has to stand a chance against the in-form Taiwan shuttler, who seems determined to begin the year with a title and retain the numero uno position.
TV Schedule
Malaysia: Astro Supersport
China: LETV, GDTV
Taiwan: Sportcast
Thailand: True visions
Indonesia: Fox Sports
India: Star Sports
Australia: Fox Sports
Dubai: Dubai SPorts Channel
UK: BBC
Hong Kong: iCable, PCCW
US: One World Sport
Denmark: TV2
