Another spectacular performance from Olympic Champion Carolina Marin carried her into the Malaysia Open (600.000 Dollars) semi-final against her rival Nozomi Okuhara.

In an enjoyable match between the current women’s singles world champion and a former world champion (2013), Marin got off to a roaring start, taking the opening game 21-8.

„Thanks for supporting me in today’s match. Please keep going, my lovely fans“, Marin wrote on her official Facebook page.

Marin and Intanon have now faced off seven times on the Superseries tour, with only two victories for the Spaniard, and five matches have gone to three games. But things got trickier in the second game as the Thailand star showed flashes of the brilliance that caused her to become world number one in 2013. Ratchanok Intanon took the second game 21-18.

But the 23 year-old from the Spanish city of Huelva, a city that will host the 2018 European Championships, put the disappointment of losing the second game behind her to win the rubber-game in style (21-12).

She will now meet Japan's Nozomi Okuhara in the last four, who beat her fourth-seeded compatriot Akane Yamaguchi 21-18, 22-20. The two last met in the 2016 Yonex All-England Open where Okuhara beat the two-time European Champion in three games.

Denmark’s Joachim Fischer and Christinna Pedersen lost out to China’s Zhang Nan and Li Yunhui in two close games 21-23, 19-21. In the women’s doubles, Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl suffered a quarter-finals defeat by Korea’s Chan Ye Na and Lee Soo He (21-12, 15-21, 14-21).

Malaysia Open semi-finals with European interest:

WS: Carolina Marin (ESP) - Nozomi Okuhara (JPN)

Recent Malaysia Open champions from Europe:

2015 - Carolina Marin 

2013 - Joachim Fischer/Christinna Pedersen

2012 - Christinna Pedersen/Kamilla Rytter Juhl

2009 - Tine Baun

2008 - Tine Baun

2007 - Peter Gade
2002 - Nathan Robertson/Gail Emms

Click HERE for all results of the Malaysia Open Superseries 2017.

Article by Manuel Rösler. Photo by BadmintonPhoto.