SINGAPORE - When the last shuttle sailed over her head and beyond the baseline, Gao Fangjie dropped her racket, raised both her arms and scrunched her face in a mixture of relief and happiness.
With her 21-15, 12-21, 21-14 victory over Thailand's Nitchaon Jindapol in the Singapore Badminton Open women's singles semi-finals on Saturday, the Chinese world No. 16 not only earned herself a shot at winning her first major senior title, but also banished the memories of a painful loss to the same opponent.
Gao, 19, had lost 19-21, 21-19, 21-12 to the 27-year-old Thai in the Uber Cup semi-finals in May, when 14-time champions China suffered a shock 3-2 defeat in Bangkok.
Asked by The Sunday Times if the loss motivated her, Gao choked on her words in the mixed zone at the Indoor Stadium, and covered her face with a white towel.
Regaining her composure, she said: "Actually I was very affected by that match... I feel it was a very painful lesson... from the match I learnt the importance of having a (strong) mentality.
"I really gained a lot of experience from that tournament."
Gao, who faces Japan's Sayaka Takahashi in the final on Sunday, is aiming to be the first Chinese shuttler to win the women's singles title in a major professional tournament since He Bingjiao's success in the Japan Open in September 2016.
"I really want to be the champion of this tournament as it has been rather long since I've won... but I have to take the final step by step," said Gao, who triumphed at the Korea Masters Grand Prix Gold last December. "You can't think about the results first, you have to focus on your own game."
Meanwhile, women's doubles top seeds Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai of Thailand crashed out with a 21-17, 21-19 loss to Japan's Ayako Sakuramoto and Yukiko Takahata in the semi-finals on Saturday.
The Japanese duo will meet team-mates Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida in the final on Sunday, while the men's doubles decider will be a showdown between Indonesia's Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan and China's Ou Xuanyi and Ren Xiangyu.
Mixed doubles top seeds Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia, and men's singles top seed Chou Tien-chen of Chinese Taipei, are also through to the final day of the US$355,000 (S$486,000) Badminton World Federation World Tour Super 500 tournament.
The Indonesians beat compatriots Akbar Bintang Cahyono and Winny Oktavina Kandow 26-24, 21-17 on Saturday, and will meet Malaysian second seeds Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Jemie Lai in the final.
World No. 7 Chou will face team-mate Hsu Jen-hao in the men's singles final, following his 21-12, 18-21, 21-16 win over China's Qiao Bin, which took 66 minutes.
The 28-year-old said: "It has been a long time since I've made it to a final; this was a very exciting match and my hard work paid off, so I am happy.
"I think tomorrow would be fun, because we are team-mates and know each other... but it's also harder to play because we know each other's styles, so we'll see."
