Chinese shuttlers assured of two French Open titles

Li Xuerui

Paris, Oct 26 (IANS) Chinese shuttlers are assured of winning both women's singles and doubles titles ahead of Sunday's finals at the $275,000 French Open Super Series badminton tournament.

World No.1 Li Xuerui overcame Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand in the semi-finals, beating the 2013 world champion 21-18, 21-12 in just 37 minutes Saturday, reports Xinhua.

"It proves that I've been making progress since the distressing defeat at last year's world championships women's singles final," said Li.

"I can feel my improvement on mental control," added the 23-year-old. "I'm more patient on court and won't let myself make the same mistakes as I did last year."

With the straight-set victory, the top-seeded Li set up a title match against teammate Wang Shixian after the world No.2 won a Chinese derby against third seed Wang Yihan, 21-12, 22-20.

The women's doubles final Sunday will also be an all-Chinese affair, after fifth seeds Ma Jin/Tang Yuanting overcame Shizuka Matsuo/Mami Naito of Japan 19-21, 21-11, 21-14 and seventh-seeded Wang Xiaoli/Yu Yang beat fellow Chinese Luo Ying/Luo Yu 22-20, 21-7.