On December 18, Beijing time, the women's singles semifinals of the World Championships were contested, and China's Zhang Yiman competed, and her opponent was Akane Yamaguchi, the No. 2 seed of the tournament. Zhang Yiman's performance at this World Championship was eye-catching, and she broke into the final four in her first competition. Akane Yamaguchi is currently ranked No. 3 in the world, and in the last round she eliminated her rival Ahn Hyun-ying to advance to the final four.
Today's first game Akane Yamaguchi started with a 6-3 lead, and Zhang Yiman scored three consecutive points to chase 6 draws. After that, Akane Yamaguchi opened the gap again, entering a technical interval of 11-7. Zhang Yiman began to chase points after the suspension, and at one point chased 15 draws. Akane Yamaguchi maintained a slight advantage in the final stages of the innings, with Akane Yamaguchi winning the first set 21-19.
In the first half of the second set, the two sides alternated leads, and the point difference never opened. Zhang Yiman led 11-10 into a technical interval, after the timeout Zhang Yiman once led the opponent by 4 points 17-13, Akane Yamaguchi chased points in a row at key moments, she scored 4 consecutive points to chase 17 draws. After 19 draws, Akane Yamaguchi scored two points to win another set at 21-19.
In the end, after two rounds of fierce battles, no. 2 seed Akane Yamaguchi narrowly defeated China's Zhang Yiman 21-19, 21-19 and successfully advanced to the women's singles final of this World Championships. The final will be played between top seed Dai Ziying and No. 2 seed Akane Yamaguchi, both of whom reached the semi-finals, and both Chinese players who reached the semi-finals failed to make a name for the final title.