by Simon Daish

Awaiting Minami Ando in the semi-finals is another Japanese opponent after third seed Sakura Mori held off a late comeback attempt in her closing fixture of the day.

Leading by three games to one Sakura Mori’s nerve was tested when Miyu Nagasaki responded with back-to-back game wins but the former of the two remained focused on the task at hand, claiming the victory in the decider (11-8, 8-11, 11-8, 11-9, 4-11, 3-11, 11-3).

Another all-Japan encounter to feature the full seven games distance came right at the foot of the draw: Sitting on the cusp of defeat yet Miyu Kato, second seed, refused to give up the fight as she recovered from a difficult position to beat no.7 seed Maki Shiomi (8-11, 7-11, 11-7, 8-11, 11-9, 13-11, 11-6) to keep her gold medal hopes in tact.

Puerto Rican star Adriana Diaz looked well placed to reach the last four in Otocec, however, a one game lead over Honoka Hashimoto wasn’t capitalised upon as the fourth seed from Japan claimed four games in a row to earn her place in the line-up for day three (10-12, 11-5, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8).

Semi-finals action from the Women’s Singles event gets underway on Friday 6th April from 10.00am (local time).