by Wade Townsend

Chen Meng defeated Miu Hirano 4-0 ( 11-7, 11-8, 11-5, 11-7) in the quarter-final stage of the Women’s Singles. The win avenges her loss to Hirano in the final of the Asian Championships in April.

“I’m pleased with my performance today. The scores in the first two games were actually very tight, after winning the games, I think I was more relaxed and not as tense while playing.” Chen Meng

Obviously the Chinese team has analysed Hirano down to the smallest detail and have developed a strategy to combat the rising Japanese star.

“In the fourth game when Hirano took a time-out, Coach Xiao Zhan told me that she will likely focus on attacking aggressively because at that time I was leading in that game and had a 3-0 lead. She took the first two points after the timeout, I felt there was no problem with my receive, but that two backhands shots were very high quality shots. After that I was able to take control of the game as I had anticipated how she will continue playing, so I was very calm at that time.” Chen Meng

With the win Chen gave breath a sigh of relief; her loss was avenged. But the match was a personal battle, rather than against her opponent.

“After losing to Hirano at the Asian Championships, this time I came well prepared. More importantly it was my mentality. I don’t think I overcame her, it’s about winning a battle against myself.” Chen Meng

Meanwhile in the other quarter-final, Han Ying’s defences remained strong as she defeated Chinese Taipei’s Cheng I-Ching (11-7, 10-12, 11-4, 10-12, 11-8, 11-7) to move in to the semi final stage of the Women’s Singles event.

Han Ying took an injury timeout in the sixth game when Cheng was leading. Whatever was niggling her seemed to disappear. Han took the game with ease to win the match.

Semi finals of the Women’s Singles kick off tomorrow at 10:00 local time. Be sure to catch the action live at itTV.