World champion Carolina Marin (pictured) advanced to the Hong Kong Open Superseries semifinals, beating Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand, 21-12, 21-13. The top-seeded shuttler from Spain will face Wang Yihan in a semifinal on Saturday. Yihan of China defeated third seed Sung Ji Hyun of Korea, 21-14, 21-7.

Former world champion and seventh-seeded Ratchanok Intanon beat Sayako Sato (Japan), 21-19, 21-11, to set up the other semifinal with Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara, who defeated Tai Tzu Ying [4] of Taiwan, 21-13, 21-13.

Marin, a winner of this year’s Yonex All-England, Malaysia Open, Australian Open and Yonex French Open, seeks her fifth Superseries victory in 2015.

Boe/Mogensen in their first Hong Kong Open semi-final

Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen (pictured) came from behind to beat Angga Pratama/Ricky Karanda Suwardi of Indonesia and book a Hong Kong Open semi-final meeting with the second seeds from Indonesia. The third seed's 20-22, 21-12, 21-14 win took the current All-England champions to their first ever semi at the Hong Kong Open.

They'll be up against another familiar faces next, with world champions Hendra Setiawan/ Mohammad Ahsan awaiting in the semifinals on Saturday.



Chris and Gabby Adcock, the 2013 champions, lost out in the first round of the Hong Kong Open on Wednesday morning. Their 21-9, 21-15 defeat to Korean pair Shin Baek Cheol and Yoo Jung Chae brought an early end to the final Asian leg of the year before next month’s MetLife BWF Superseries Finals in Dubai.

Early exits for Axelsen and Jørgensen

Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen lost his opening game against Kazumasa Sakai as he could not cope with the power and accuracy of his Japanese opponent who comfortably won 21-17, 21-10.

“It was a match where I did close to nothing right. Sakai took his chance and played well. My preparations for these two weeks haven't been as good as I wanted them to be, so I hope to get a few good weeks training at home before going to Dubai! Today was really disappointing on every level, but I will learn from it, move on, and come back stronger”, admitted Axelsen on Facebook.

2014 European Champion and world number two Jan Ø. Jørgensen (Denmark) bowed out in the first round against China’s Wang Zhengming 15-21, 19-21.

“Nothing really worked out there against Zhengming. I tried my best to stay in the game and change it but I must admit that it simply wasn't gonna be today. I will get back home as soon as possible to prepare for the last event of this year, the BWF Superseries Finals in Dubai”, said Jørgensen.

Previous Hong Kong Open champions from Europe:

2013 Chris Adcock/Gabby Adcock (ENG)
2010 Joachim Fischer/Christinna Pedersen (DEN)
2009 Robert Mateusiak/Nadiezda Zieba (POL)
1998 Camilla Martin (DEN) & Michael Søgaard/Rikke Olsen (DEN)
1997 Peter Gade (DEN)

Click here for champions of the tournament since 1982.
Click here for all results from Hong Kong.

Article by Manuel Rösler. Photos (LIVE) by BadmintonPhoto.