Carolina Marin beats Yamaguchi to reach women’s singles final

PARIS: Rio 2016 Olympic gold medallist Carolina Marin defeated reigning two-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi 21-14, 21-18 to reach the women's singles final at the French Open 2022 badminton tournament, here on Saturday.

Marin, who needed 47 minutes to defeat Japan's Yamaguchi in the semifinal, will face the winner between China's He Bing Jiao and Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying, in the final.

After recovering from an ACL injury that prevented her from defending her Olympic title in Tokyo, the Spaniard won the European Championships crown in April. On Sunday, she will seek title number 35 of her career.

It will be for the first time in two years that the 29-year-old will play a final of a World Tour Super 750 tournament. The last time she played a final of a BWF World Tour Super 750 tournament was in Odense, Denmark, in October 2020.

In her best victory since returning to the circuit, Marin dominated throughout, varying direction and pace of play toward an increasingly exhausted opponent.

Yamaguchi had halted Marin's progress to the podium at recent tournaments, including August's World Cup in Tokyo, but this time she beat the circuit's form player.