World No 1 Datuk Lee Chong Wei continued his relentless march in the US$300,000 Singapore Open when he thrashed Thailand’s Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk 21-8, 21-14 in the quarter-finals at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Friday.
The top seeded Malaysian will now play India’s K. Srikanth for a place in the final with an eye on his fourth title this season after winning the Malaysian Open in January, the All England in March and India Open last week.
The other semi-final will be between recently crowned Yonex-Sunrise Malaysian Grand Prix Gold champion Simon Santoso of Indonesia and China’s Du Pengyu. Simon defeated Lee Dong Keun of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 while Pengyu won against India’s B. Sai Praneeth 21-15, 21-15.
The 31-year-old Chong Wei wants to end his campaign in Singapore on a winning note before he takes a break to focus on the Thomas Cup Finals which will be held in New Delhi from May 18-25. Chong Wei is playing in the Singapore Open after a six year absence after he won the title in 2008.
The unseeded Srikanth reached his first ever semi-finals in the Superseries with a come-from-behind 17-21, 21-14, 21-19 win over HongKong’s Yu Hung and showed tremendous fighting spirit over his opponent.
Malaysia’s hope in the men’s doubles ended when fourth seeds Hoon Thien How-Tan Wee Kiong were beaten 16-21, 14-21 by sixth seeds LeeSheng Mu-Tsai Chia Hsin of Taiwan in their quarter-final encounter.
