On January 11th, Beijing time, the fifth match day of the 2025 Malaysia Badminton Open began, with the semi-finals of various events set to take place one after another. The first match was a women's singles semi-final where former world champion Ratchanok Intanon suffered a 0-2 defeat, being swept by world number one An Se-young, swallowing her ninth consecutive loss to An Se-young as An Se-young advanced to the women's singles final. The second match was a women's doubles semi-final where the national team pair of Li Yijing/Luo Xumin lost 0-2 to the Japanese pair of Yuki Fukushima/Mayu Matsumoto, losing this China-Japan clash, which meant that the national team's women's doubles missed out on the opportunity to win the championship in advance. The other women's doubles semi-final was an internal battle between Liu Shengshu/Tan Ning and Jia Yifan/Zhang Shuhuan.
The women's singles semi-final between An Se-young and Ratchanok Intanon marked the start of the fifth match day. Both An Se-young and Ratchanok Intanon are world champions, with An Se-young also being the Paris Olympic champion and currently ranked world number one. The 22-year-old An Se-young is at the peak of her career, while the 30-year-old Ratchanok Intanon, although not in the twilight of her career, has seen a decline in competitive form compared to her peak. Previously, they had met nine times, with An Se-young losing their first encounter but then winning eight consecutive matches.
After the start of the game, An Se-young quickly took a commanding lead of 9-2, with Ratchanok Intanon closing the gap slightly. An Se-young still led 11-9 into the interval and extended her lead to 15-9 after the break with a 4-0 run. Ratchanok Intanon could only score a few points sporadically, as An Se-young firmly controlled the situation to win the first game 21-14. In the second game, it was again An Se-young who took the lead in scoring, entering the interval at 11-6. After the break, An Se-young expanded her lead to 15-7, with Ratchanok Intanon launching a counterattack to get five consecutive points and close the gap to 12-15. An Se-young then steadied the situation to win 21-18, securing her ninth consecutive victory over Ratchanok Intanon!
The second semi-final was a women's doubles clash between Li Yijing/Luo Xumin versus Yuki Fukushima/Mayu Matsumoto. In the first game, Li Yijing/Luo Xumin lost several points after a 12-all tie, with Yuki Fukushima/Mayu Matsumoto taking the first game 21-13 to lead 1-0 overall. Li Yijing/Luo Xumin had a good start in the second game, but Yuki Fukushima/Mayu Matsumoto quickly overtook them. Li Yijing/Luo Xumin leveled the score in the middle of the game, with both pairs fighting for key points at the end of the game. Li Yijing/Luo Xumin, trailing 18-20, saved two match points to catch up to 20-all, but Yuki Fukushima/Mayu Matsumoto got another match point at 21-20. Li Yijing/Luo Xumin caught up to 21-all, but ultimately Yuki Fukushima/Mayu Matsumoto narrowly won 23-21, eliminating Li Yijing/Luo Xumin with a total score of 2-0 to advance to the final.
Looking back on this China-Japan women's doubles match, the national team pair of Li Yijing/Luo Xumin lost quite unfortunately. They suddenly collapsed in the first game and narrowly lost after saving three match points in the second game. Especially in the key points of the second game, Li Yijing/Luo Xumin missed several crucial shots, which proved to be very fatal!