Pornpawee earns a shot at Open crown
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Pornpawee earns a shot at Open crown

Kunlavut storms into men's singles final

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Dominating win: Kunlavut Vitidsarn jumps for a smash during his match against Loh Kean Yew.
Dominating win: Kunlavut Vitidsarn jumps for a smash during his match against Loh Kean Yew.

Top seeds Pornpawee Chochuwong and Kunlavut Vitidsarn advanced to the finals of US$475,000 (approx 16,150,000 baht) BWF Toyota Thailand Open at Nimibutr Stadium on Saturday.

Pornpawee knocked out defending champion Supanida Katethong to reach the women's singles decider of the World Tour Super 500 event.

Pornpawee will be looking to win her home tournament for the first time and add the national open to the Thailand Masters crown earlier this year as she takes on former champion Chen Yufei of China.

Pornpawee's victory at the Princess Sirivannavari Thailand Masters in February was her first in nearly two years.

Former Olympic champion Chen, who won the tournament in 2019, advanced after beating in-form Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan 21-11, 23-21.

Miyazaki came into the tournament on the back of her victory at the Taipei Open last Sunday and reached the semis without dropping a game.

Kunlavut, the 2023 champion, joined Pornpawee on the last day of the tournament after easing past Loh Kean Yew of Singapore 21-10, 21-12.

The world No.2 will face either Denmark's Anders Antonsen and China's Lu Guangzu for the men's crown.

Earlier, men's doubles pair Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Kittinupong Kedren bowed out in the last four stage after losing to second seeds Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia 17-21, 13-21.

It was the Thai pair third defeat against Chia and Yik, the two-time Olympic bronze medallists, who go on to face William Kryger Boe and Christian Faust Kjaer of Denmark in the final.

The unseeded Danes upset top seeds Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia 21-13, 21-12 in the other semi.

Top seeds Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan of Malaysia will meet Jeong Na-Eun and Lee Yeon-Woo of South Korea in the women's doubles final.

Tan and Muralitharan ended the dream run of Japanese qualifiers Rui Hirokami and Sayaka Hobara with a 21-18, 21-12 victory.

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