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Badminton: Wong on song at Korea Open

Hong Kong's Wong Wing Ki secured a semi-final birth at the Badminton World Federation Korea Open on Friday, with a straight game victory over the fourth-seeded Tian Houwei of China. The unseeded Wong, who reached the same stage of the tournament in 2013, used his speed around the court to best his Chinese opponent 21-18, 21-17. "Towards the end I felt tired, and when I looked at him, he looked tired too," Wong said. "It was about the mind, about who was stronger. It wasn't about technical ability," he added. Wong's semi-final opponent will be China's Qiao Bin who powered past local hope Heo Kwang-Hee 21-7 21-14. The other semi-final features an all-Korea affair between Son Wan-Ho and Lee Hyun-Il who both enjoyed straight games wins in their respective quarter-finals. In the women's tournament, South Korean defending champion Sung Ji-Hyun repeated last year's quarter-final victory over Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying, 21-16 21-18. "It's tough every time I play her," Sung said. "I've been doing well in Korea, but I've been unable to get the desired results in the other big events. That's something I have to overcome," she added. Sung will face fellow Korean Kim Hyo-Min in the last four, while the other semi-final will be an all-Japanese affair between Akane Yamaguchi and Minatsu Mitani. Yamaguchi breezed past her young Korean quarter-final opponent Korean Kim Hyang-Im, while Mitani had to struggle hard to overcome China's Chen Yufei, 14-21 21-19 21-16.