Jonatan Christie kept alive his slim hopes of earning a place in the Top 8 for the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2024 with a gutsy 21-17 19-21 21-11 win over Loh Kean Yew.

It was a must win match for both men. Christie was happy that he didn’t make the same mistake as last week when giving up a 17-10 lead in the deciding game.

“I’m still adjusting to the conditions here. My adaptation is not yet optimal. Today I still had difficulty controlling the shuttlecock and the atmosphere on the court. Several times I was still looking for the feeling,” he said.

“In the third game I just thought about not repeating what happened at the Kumamoto Masters last week (against Leong Jun Hao). I just had to focus as much as possible point by point. When you are ahead, you need to keep pressing, and not lower the tempo.”

With the possibility of Christie’s nearest rivals in the HSBC Race to Finals rankings, Koki Watanabe (playing Viktor Axelsen), and one of either Li Shi Feng or Lin Chun-Yi (playing each other) exiting on Wednesday, the Indonesian’s unlikely path to Finals looked more promising than what it perhaps did at the start of the week.

He now plays local hope Lu Guang Zu for a place in the quarters. Nothing short of a tournament victory will suffice in his quest for a miracle.

One fraction of Thailand’s complex women’s singles equation became easier to solve with Ratchanok Intanon bowing out to An Se Young in a 24-22 15-21 21-19 epic. It’s now a showdown between Busanan Ongbamrungphan, Supanida Katethong, and Pornpawee Chochuwong to clinch the two remaining spots.

The make-up of the mixed doubles Top 8 for Finals became clearer with top seeds Feng Yan Zhe/Huang Dong Ping accounting for Japan’s Hiroki Midorikawa/Natsu Saito 21-14 21-13. It means the follow pairs are now a lock for Hangzhou.

It would seem strange that Feng/Huang, winners of the last three tournaments they have entered, would not appear there, but unless one of their compatriots declines an invitation, their HSBC BWF World Tour season will come to an early end under the two entries per Member rule for Finals. [Read Qualifying Rules]

What They Said

“After all, it was me who persuaded her to come back. I care about how she trains. I can’t just expect her to come back to achieve success [without training].” – Jia Yi Fan on making sure Chen Qing Chen was training ahead of their comeback together at the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals.

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