Thai mixed doubles stun world No 1
Thai mixed doubles Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai staged one of the biggest upsets in their career as they knocked out world No 1 Huang Yaqiong and Zheng Siwei of China in the semi-final of the Singapore Open on Saturday.
The world No 4 Thais who entered the match with a poor 0-6 record against the Chinese rivals produced a Giant-Killer’s form to prevail over the world champions 24-22 21-19 in 43 minutes for a spot in the final.
Dechapol and Sapsiree have reached their third final this season. They lost their previous two to Chang Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying of Malaysia in the Thailand Masters and to Yuya Watanabe and Arisa Higashino of Japan in Malaysia Masters respectively.
The Thai duo will be looking for their second title together after the Swiss Open in 2017.
They will meet Tan Jiang Meng and Lai Pei Jing of Malaysia, who beat Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Widjaja of Indonesia 21-16 20-22 22-20, in the Sunday’s final.
Earlier on Friday, Thai No 1 Ratchanok Intanon lost to Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 13-21 17-21 in the quarter-finals.
