Kunlavut advances at Thailand Open
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Kunlavut advances at Thailand Open

Sisters, mixed pair also reach last four

Thai women's doubles duo Benyapa Aimsaard, right, and Nuntakarn Aimsaard play in the quarter-finals of the Thailand Open yesterday.
Thai women's doubles duo Benyapa Aimsaard, right, and Nuntakarn Aimsaard play in the quarter-finals of the Thailand Open yesterday.

Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn rallied to beat China's Lu Guangzu 18-21, 21-14, 21-11 in the quarter-finals of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Thailand Open yesterday.

The second-seeded Thai needed 73 minutes to finish off the fifth seed in the US$420,000 tournament at Hua Mark Indoor Stadium.

In today's semi-finals of the BWF World Tour Super 500 event, Kunlavut will meet India's Lakshya Sen, who beat Leong Jun Hao of Malaysia 21-19, 21-11.

The 22-year-old Thai is seeking his second title of the year after claiming the India Open.

Eighth seed Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong is up against France's Toma Junior Popov in the other semi-final.

Mixed doubles top seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai defeated sixth seeds Robin Tabeling and Selena Piek of the Netherlands 21-16, 21-12.

The world No.2 Thais are seeking back-to-back titles after their victory at the Malaysia Masters, also a Super 500 event, last week.

In the semi-finals, Dechapol and Sapsiree face Denmark's Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Boje, who beat Japan's Yuki Kanebo and Misaki Matsutomo 21-16, 21-11.

In the other semi-final, South Korean fifth seeds Im Won-Ho and Jeong Na-Eun take on Taiwan's Ye Hong-wei and Lee Chia-hsin.

In the women's doubles, sixth seeds Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard defeated Japan's Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi 21-17, 21-7.

The Thai sisters will be up against third seeds Baek Ha-Na and Lee So-Hee from South Korea in the last four.

The Koreans saw off China's Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning 22-20, 21-14 in the quarter-finals.

In the women's singles, top-seeded An Se-Young beat seventh seed Han Yue of China 21-16, 21-18.

An will meet fourth seed Carolina Marin of Spain for a place in the final.

Marin, who has won three world titles and an Olympic gold medal, beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-19, 21-12 in the last eight.

Third-seeded He Bingjiao of China faces Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark in the other last-four encounter.

The Chinese defeated Thailand's eighth seed Pornpawee Chochuwong 21-10, 21-19, while the Dane beat Yeo Jia Min of Singapore 21-11, 21-9.

The tournament ends tomorrow.

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