Home favourite Akane Yamaguchi reaches Japan Open badminton final
badminton champion Akane Yamaguchi beat China's Chen Yufei to reach the final of the Japan Open on Saturday, then thanked the home fans for getting her over the line. Top seed Yamaguchi, who retained her world title last week in Tokyo, edged Chen 15-21, 21-16, 24-22 in Osaka after a tense encounter in which both players had match points. Yamaguchi beat Chen in the world championships final last week and she again came out on top after a match that she said was about "who could tough it out the longest".


