BEIJING: Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen and previous world number one Tai Tzu-ying earned appearances in deciding men's and women's singles matchups following wins Saturday at the badminton World Tour Finals in Hangzhou, China.
Axelsen cruised to a semi-final victory over fellow Dane Anders Antonsen in two games settled with scores of 21-9 and 21-14.
The result means the 2022 World Championships winner will face Shi Yuqi of China – the World Tour Finals 2018 champion – in the deciding men's singles matchup on Sunday.
Saturday's play saw Shi defeat Indonesia's Jonatan Christie in two games with scores of 21-16 and 21-15.
In the women's singles competition, world number four Tai of Taiwan defied the odds in a hard-fought comeback against world number one An Se-young of South Korea, overcoming a first-game loss to win 19-21, 21-15, 22-20.
Tai will go on to engage Spain's Carolina Marin in the deciding matchup Sunday.
In the women's final, world number four Tai fought back to get the better of Spain's Carolina Marin 12-21, 21-14, 21-18.
Marin is a former Olympic champion and the only European in the women's world top 10. She made the final after a gripping, three-set defeat of China's Chen Yufei, another Olympic champion, in Saturday's semi-finals.
"I wasn't able to train well before coming, so my preparation and performance here were not optimal," Tai said.
"But when I saw the excellent form of Carolina Marin and Chen Yufei... I told myself I had to grit my teeth and do my best to be able to compete," she said.
In the men's doubles, South Korean world champions Kang Min-hyuk and Seo Seung-jae overcame the Chinese pair of Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang 21-17, 22-20 to win the men's doubles.
Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan gave the home crowd something to cheer about by beating South Korea's Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee 21-16, 21-16 to win the women's doubles.
The mixed doubles title went to Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong with a 21-11, 21-18 defeat of Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping in an all-Chinese final. --AFFP