Indonesia Open: Chou to meet Antonsen in final as top two seeds exit

Chou Tien-chen of Taiwan beat world number one Kunlavut Vitidsarn 21-16, 23-21 in the Indonesia Open in Jakarta on Saturday to set up a final against Anders Antonsen, who defeated defending champion Shi Yuqi.

Second seed Vitidsarn shot out of the blocks in both games and racked up 5-1 leads, but the 35-year-old Chou showed great resilience, fighting back to secure a spot in his first final since last month’s Taipei Open.

China’s Shi began his semifinal strongly, taking the first game 21-9, while third-seeded Antonsen was much more competitive in the second game and pounced on a string of errors from the top seed to wrest control of the match.

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Shi had the lead early in the tight third game, but Antonsen rose to the challenge to win 9-21, 21-18, 21-19 — his first victory over the two-time Asian Games gold medallist since January 2024.

In the women’s draw, top seed An Se-young of South Korea faced third-seeded Akane Yamaguchi, the second time the pair had met in the semifinals of a Super 1000 tournament this year.

Much like their meeting at the All England Open in March, reigning Olympic champion An held off her Japanese opponent to win 21-18, 21-17 and secure a spot in the Indonesia Open final for a third time in her career.

An will come up against Wang Zhiyi in Sunday’s final after the Chinese world number two beat compatriot Han Yue 21-12, 21-13 in 39 minutes.