Singapore’s Zeng Jian reached the final of the Women’s Singles at the Paris Olympics Southeast Asian Regional Qualification Tournament in Bangkok today after beating Alice Chang of Malaysia in the semifinal in straight sets, 12-10, 11-7, 11-4, 11-9.

She will take on Vietnam’s Nguyen Khanh in the final to be played at 3pm (Bangkok time) on Friday, after the Vietnamese survived a thrilling fightback by Kheith Cruz of the Philippines, as the Filipino youngster had clawed her way back from 3-0 down to take the game into a deciding rubber.

Earlier in the day, both Singapore women’s paddlers won their final group stage matches, with Zeng coming back from losing the first set to Mai Trang of Vietnam, 6-11, to win the next four sets in comfortable fashion, 11-8, 11-6, 11-9, 11-4, and top her group with three straight wins, while Zhou Jingyi won her first game of the competition, beating Angelou Joyce Laude of the Philippines by a scoreline 4-2 (11-7, 11-2, 7-11, 11-5, 14-16, 11-3).

Unfortunately that victory was not enough for Zhou to progress to the semifinals.

The final day of competition on Friday, 10 May, will begin with the Men’s Singles semifinal, with Izaac Quek of Singapore taking on John Russell Misal of the Philippines and home favourite Phadpoom Sanguansin playing Dinh Anh Hoang of Vietnam, followed by the Women’s Singles Final and then the Men’s Singles Final.