Qingdao, Ruichang to meet in China Badminton Super League final

CHENGDU -- Powerhouses Qingdao Renzhou and Ruichang Biyuan will meet in the final of the 2020 China Badminton Super League (CBSL) after both clinched victories here on Sunday.

Defending champions Qingdao showed dominance from the very beginning of the semifinals against Xiamen Tefang as Zheng Siwei/Huang Dongping swept Shang Yichen/Yan Chenxue 11-7, 11-4, 11-5 in the opening mixed doubles.

World No. 2 Chen Yufei crushed young shuttler Huang Mingxuan 11-3, 11-2, 11-4 in the women's singles later to extend the lead for Qingdao.

"I prepared a lot before this match, and I was surprised when finding Xiamen rested its starting player Han Yue. Huang is not very experienced, but still, I tried my best on the court. I think I performed better than that of last time we met in the first stage," commented Chen.

In the women's doubles, Jia Yifan/Du Yue of Qingdao were challenged in the first set against Tan Ning/Chen Yingying, before they finally secured the narrow win 15-13. Then Jia/Du controlled the next two sets to win 11-7, 11-4, awarding the four-time CBSL champion the victory in just 80 minutes.

In the other semifinal of the day, Ruichang fought from one game down to beat Hunan Hualai 3-1.

Ren Xiangyu/Huang Yaqiong of Ruichang lost to He Jiting/Wei Yaxin 11-9, 13-11, 7-11, 11-8 in a fierce mixed doubles battle, before their teammates earned the next three points in the women's singles, women's doubles and men's singles respectively.

"I felt very nervous when I played because we were behind at that time. Also, I like the atmosphere of the knockout round, it was intense, like in international events," said He Bingjiao after taking a straight win in the women's singles against Zhou Meng.

The final clash between Qingdao and Ruichang will be held on Monday, each of which won once in their previous two meetings in the regular season.