Jongkolphan, Rawinda stun No.1 duo

Jongkolphan, Rawinda stun No.1 duo

Thai women's doubles duo Rawinda Prajongjai (left) and Jongkolphan Kititharakul.
Thai women's doubles duo Rawinda Prajongjai (left) and Jongkolphan Kititharakul.

Women's doubles duo Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai claimed probably the biggest win of their career when they upset Chinese world No.1 Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifang 21-19, 21-15 in the quarter-finals of the Indonesia Open on Friday.

It is the Thais' first victory over Chen and Jia, who have won the world title twice and were runners-up at last year's Olympics, in 13 meetings.

Jongkolphan and Rawinda are the only Thais remaining in the US$1.2 million event in Jakarta.

The seventh-seeded Thai pair will meet sixth seeds Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida in Saturday's semi-finals of the BWF World Tour Super 1000 tournament.

The Japanese duo defeated China's Du Yue and Li Wenmei 21-10, 13-21, 21-9 in the last eight.

Jongkolphan and Rawinda have previously reached the final of a Super 1000 event only once at the Thailand Open in 2020 when they lost to Indonesia's Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu.

In Saturday's other semi-final, Japanese fourth seeds Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Horota take on South Korea's second seeds Lee So-Hee and Shin Seung-Chan.

There were also major upsets in the women's singles quarter-finals yesterday.

Unseeded Chinese Wang Zhiyi beat top seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 21-19, 21-14. Wang will next face compatriot He Bingjiao who stunned third seed An Se-Young of South Korea 15-21, 21-17, 21-14.

Olympic champion and fourth seed Chen Yufei of China cruised past sixth seed Nazomi Okuhara of Japan 21-16, 21-10.

On Thursday night, Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon suffered a shock 21-15, 16-21, 20-22 loss to Denmark's Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt.

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