Singapore Badminton Open 2013: Saturday's Schedule for Prestigious Tournament

Intensity is skyrocketing as the 2013 Singapore Badminton Open schedule nears its conclusion.

On Saturday, the stars still alive in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super Series will compete to advance to Sunday’s finals. Here is the complete schedule for the men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles tournament semifinal matches.

Main Location - 1

Start Time	Tournament	Draw
2:00 p.m. ET	Men's Singles	Tien Minh Nguyen vs. Tommy Sugiarto
Followed by	Women's Doubles	Qing Tian & Yunlei Zhao vs. Nitya Krishinda Maheswari & Greysia Polii
Followed by	Men's Singles	Takuma Ueda vs. Boonsak Ponsana
Followed by	Women's Singles	Yihan Wang vs. Lindaweni Fanetri
Followed by	Men's Doubles	Yun Cai & Haifeng Fu vs. Mohammad Ahsan & Hendra Setiawan

Main Location - 2

Start Time	Tournament	Draw
2:00 p.m. ET	Mixed Doubles	Baek Choel Shin & Ye Na Jang vs. Yeon Seong Yoo & Hye Won Eom
Followed by	Women's Singles	Xuerui Li vs. Sun Yu
Followed by	Women's Doubles	Pia Zebadiah Bernadeth & Rizki Amelia Pradipta vs. Misaki Matsutomo & Ayaka Takahashi
Followed by	Mixed Doubles	Praveen Jordan & Vita Marissa vs. Tontowi Ahmad & Liliyana Natsir
Followed by	Men's Doubles	Sung Hyon Ko & Yong Dae Lee vs. Baek Choel Shin & Yeon Seong Yoo

Schedule courtesy of tournamentsoftware.com.

History suggests that Tien Minh Nguyen and Boonsak Ponsana, the defending champion, will advance to the Singapore Badminton Open men’s singles final this year. Tien Minh, the BWF No. 10 player in the world, has never lost to Sugiarto in six attempts. Ponsana, ranked No. 4 in the world, has also never lost to Takuma Ueda, but they’ve only faced off against each another twice.

The women’s singles tournament isn’t nearly as clear cut. While Li Xuerui should advance past Yu Sun with a fair amount of ease—Li is the BWF No. 1 player in the world and Yu is just No. 73—anyone can win when Wang Yihan and Lindaweni Fanetri face off. The No. 5, Wang, and No. 13, Fanetri, ranked players competed twice in their careers, Fanetri winning their most recent meeting at the Yonex All England Open Badminton Championships 2013 on March 6 by the score of 21-12, 21-19.

Three out of the six doubles matchups have no history of competition. There is a superiorly ranked duo in each of those matches, though. Barring a major upset, the BMF No. 12 Zhao Yunlei and Tian Qing, who won the women's doubles tourney in 2011, will eliminate the No. 75 Nitya Krishinda Maheswari and Greysia Polii, No. 15 Jang Ye Na and Shina Baek Choel will take out No. 136 Yoo Yeon Seong and Eom Hye Won and No. 3 Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir will send Vita Marissa and Praveen Jordan packing.

Other heavy favorites include BMF No. 1 Lee Yong Dae and Ko Sung Hyun who are 2-0 against No. 16 Shin Baek Choel and Yoo Yeon Seong and No. 2 Misakai Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi who are also 2-0 against No. 7 Rizki Amelia Pradipta and Pia Zebadiah Bernadeth. The match of the day will feature men’s doubles duos BMF No. 8 Fu Haifeng and Cai Yun, who won the men's doubles tourney in 2011, as well as No. 7 Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. Fu and Cai are 2-1 against Ahsan and Setiawan, but the latter pair won their latest bout at the Djarum Indonesia Open 2013 just last week.

David Daniels is a breaking news writer at Bleacher Report and news editor at Wade-O Radio.

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