Japan sweep Chinese Taipei to punch Uber Cup semis ticket
Japan had to endure a marathon session with Chinese Taipei before eventually swept them 3-0, as it punched their ticket to the semifinals of the BWF Uber Cup Finals 2022 in the morning of May 12 at the Impact Arena in Bangkok.
All the rubbers went the full three-game route, with the six-time champions advancing to the last four for the seventh straight tournament, as it seeks to reclaim the trophy that they’ve won in the Thai capital four years ago.
In the first singles, Akane Yamaguchi went head-on with Tai Tzu-ying in a titanic clash before the current world number one squeaked past the former 21-10, 19-21, 21-19 in a match that lasted 56 minutes.
The lone doubles tie was the longest the match also has gone the distance, with the world number four tandem of Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota had to come from a game down to scrape past the scratch pair of Hsu Ya-ching and Lin Wan-ching 19-21, 21-7, 21-14 that went almost 75 minutes.
At the final singles fixture, former world champion Nozomi Okuhara also dropped her first game against Hsu Wen-chi, but took the last two games in a 57-minute encounter to clinch the tie 15-21, 21-13, 21-9.
