MALAYSIA OPEN 2015 SF – Carolina ready for Xuerui

Carolina Marin scored a first-ever victory over Wang Shixian to set up a repeat of her World Championship final against Li Xuerui, scheduled this time for the final of the Maybank Malaysia Open Superseries Premier.

By Mior Muzaffar Mior Dahalan, Badzine Correspondent live in Kuala Lumpur.  Photos: Yves Lacroix for Badmintonphoto (live)

Spain’s Carolina Marin (pictured) was on form in her semi-final match against Wang Shixian and won in two close games 21-17, 24-22.  And Carolina was her usual self, full of energy and determination, winning her match in 56 minutes.

“It was a tough match, and I tried not to make any mistake,” said Marin after the match.  “I knew beforehand that she had had a long match yesterday, so I tried to take advantage on that.

“Getting into the final is great and I look forward to playing Li Xuerui tomorrow.  I’m just going to stick with my game plan and hope for the best.”

The tide is high

Meanwhile, playing in the other women’s single semi-final was the current world #1, Saina Nehwal and her predecessor Li Xuerui (pictured).  The match ended 13-21, 21-17, 22-20 in  Li Xuerui’s favour.  Li Xuerui showed that she is still the real deal and the world #1 position should be hers once again by winning this match.

“Saina is in great form, so it was a tough match.  I have to do my best to win this match,” said Li afterward.  “For tomorrow’s match, it’s another tough game for me as Carolina is a good player and after she won the World Championship last year, she has gained a lot of confidence.

“I have just recovered from my injury, and I’m slowly recovering and getting my form back.  This strapping on my knee is not because from that.”

Learning curve for the Indonesians

Liliyana Natsir and Tontowi Ahmad (pictured) could not get the better of World Champions Zhao Yunlei and Zhang Nan (pictured below) and lost their semi-final match 19-21, 21-14 11-21.  This is the Indonesian pair’s 8^th defeat in total to the Chinese pair and they just could not avenge their final stage loss in the All England this year to the same Chinese pair.

“We have to learn from this game on how to play against them, especially if we are to play them in the World Championships later this year,” Tontowi Ahmad said after the match.”

“We were quite nervous and made a lot of unnecessary errors.  We have to improve on this and must not rush our shots,” added Liliyana.

Finals line-up
WD: Luo Ying / Luo Yu (CHN) [3] vs. Jang Ye Na / Jung Kyung Eun (KOR)
XD: Zhang Nan / Zhao Yunlei (CHN) [1] vs. Xu Chen / Ma Jin (CHN) [3]
MS: Chen Long (CHN) [1] vs. Lin Dan (CHN) [5]
WS: Li Xuerui (CHN) [1] vs. Carolina Marin (ESP) [6]
MD: Lee Yong Dae / Yoo Yeon Seong (KOR) [1] vs. Mohammad Ahsan / Hendra Setiawan (INA) [4]

Click here for complete semi-final results