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".

"We're in Japan and I think my win was down to the power of the crowd," said the 25-year-old. "I had some fatigue and I felt really tired until midway through the match. Then the final game started and I just wanted to enjoy it and I started to play well and my movement improved." Yamaguchi will play An Se-young in Sunday's final after the South Korean number three seed beat Taiwan's Tai Tzu-ying 21-12, 14-21, 21-13.

In the men's competition, Japan's Kenta Nishimoto beat Anders Antonsen 22-20, 21-19, eliminating the Dane for the second week running to reach his first final of the season. World number 21 Nishimoto's opponent on Sunday will be number four seed Chou Tien-chen of Taiwan, who beat China's Shi Yuqi 15-21, 21-19, 21-12. Nishimoto -- who became the home crowd's favourite in the men's competition after misfiring number two seed Kento Momota made an early exit this week -- said he hoped his "passion" would help him win the final.