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One of the most thrilling matches of the
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2025 Yonx Taipei Open was the semi-final
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men's singles match between Wong Sui and
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In the beginning of this match, Wong led
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by seven to zero, but ended up losing
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the first game 21 to 18 and lost the
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second game 21 to9. In this video, we
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want to highlight some of the key
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aspects within the match that ultimately
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as goes down the pace,
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If you've watched our video, the curse
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of Chinese Taipei men's singles
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badmintton players, you might remember
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that we said that many of the Chinese
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Taipei players lack the ability to
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effectively win off rallying and
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defense. What this means is that they
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have to play an all-out attacking style
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to win. This becomes a problem in the
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later rounds. when the court time
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ultimately takes a toll on their
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physicality. When a player becomes
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tired, they tend to make poor shot
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choices and make more unforced errors.
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And Wong is no exception to this.
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And he does it. If you've watched Wang
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play, you would have noticed that he
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plays an extremely aggressive attacking
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style where he relies predominantly on
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his spin net in the front court, his
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drive in the midcourt, and his smash in
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score. I mishid that. Yeah.
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So can you one bat in three? And as you
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would have guessed, this play style
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depends heavily on your physicality. For
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Wong, it works very well. He is able to
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take players by surprise, as he did in
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the first half of the first game against
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Low. And he gives players who rely more
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on their control less time to adjust and
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get comfortable to the court conditions.
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However, as his opponent becomes more
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adjusted to the court and Wang's fast
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playing style, then his game becomes
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much easier to deal with. And this is
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exactly what happened in this match. So,
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let's take a look at Loin Yu's
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adjustments that allowed him to win this
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match. In this match, Wong opened up
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very quickly, creating a 7 to0 point
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lead. And by the interval, it was an 11
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to4 lead for Wong, which is still a
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seven-point lead. That's why before the
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interval, Wong won off his smash and
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spin net nine points out of the 11.
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That's about 81% of the points won off
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his smash and spin net.
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I mishid that. So, it's only natural
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Lokin Yu would make some adjustments to
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counter this. The first adjustment that
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Loinu had to make was to watch the net
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more. If you find that your opponent is
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always trying to play the spin net at
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the net, there are generally two options
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that you can take to counter this. The
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first option is to watch the net more.
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What this means is to stay up closer to
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the net when you play a shot to the net
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and have your focus on the net,
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preparing yourself to take the shot
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early. For example, in these rallies,
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you can see Loin net and stay up to take
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Wong's spin net early. Yes. Goes down
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pace, watches the shot opening game.
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The second option is to prevent them
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from playing the spin net. This means
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when you block or play shots towards the
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net, you should play them further into
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the court. That way, when your opponent
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plays their return, it will go further
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into your court. Here in this rally, we
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can see Lokin Yu utilize this strategy
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as well where he blocks further on
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defense. And because Wong does not want
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to give the attack, he blocks back
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further as well, and Lo plays a
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deception to win the point. The second
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adjustment that Lo made was in his
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defense. It is unrealistic to expect to
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prevent your opponent's attack entirely,
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especially someone at Wong's caliber of
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skill. So, it is also important to
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adjust your defense if you're struggling
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to return their attack. Here's what Lo
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adjusted in his defense. Earlier in this
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video, we mentioned that in the
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midcourt, Wong would usually play the
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drive, especially after a smash
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follow-up. Low Kinyu and his coach also
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noticed this pattern. So, when the
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Chinese Taipei player would smash in the
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back, Loqin Yu would stand further in
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the back and stay further in the back in
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preparation for Wong's drive. This
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allowed him to counterattack Wong's
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drive. Take these clips for example.
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breath. Oh, look at the quick
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reactions and also very
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expressive. Kind of wears her heart on
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From our perspective, Wongsui could have
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made two changes to his game to
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potentially win the match. The first was
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more fast to slow changes in the front
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court, especially after a smash
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followup. Previously, we mentioned
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Lowe's adjustment to the drive follow-up
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after a smash. And when you see
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something like this, you need to make
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your own adjustments to adapt to your
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opponent's adjustments. That is why we
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wanted to see more fast to slow pace
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changes where Wong can hold first and
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How about this for a rally?
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It's tremendous. It's still
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going. He's playing from the floor.
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The second change that we wanted to see
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more of from Wong is more patient play.
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This goes handinhand with the first
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change. But while the first change was
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more focused on his smash followup, this
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change focuses more on his play all
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Instead of forcing flatter lifts that
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are easily punishable by Loki,
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we wanted to see more patient play with
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higher and deeper lifts when out of
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position, focusing more on stability
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rather than rushing to finish the point.
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Having more rallies where Wong played a
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little more controlled with a slower
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pace would have added variety to Wong's
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play and made it difficult for Lo to
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In summary, some key takeaways from this
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match is when you're up against an
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attacking player who loves to spin net
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smash, make sure to put emphasis on the
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net and try to watch the net to take it
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base. And if you cannot prevent their
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attack, then prepare for defense by
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getting lower and standing further in
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the back if they have a powerful smash.
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That way, you have more time to reach
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the shuttle and play a counterattacking
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shot. Additionally, we should also learn
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to play with different styles in our
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games. If we sometimes rally and play a
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little slower, sometimes faster, and
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aggressively, it will make it extremely
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difficult for our opponents to make
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Because ultimately, Loki Yu pulled ahead
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by adjusting his game in retaliation to
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Wong's attacking play style, and Wong
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could not make his own adjustments to
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adapt to Lo's game. If you guys like
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this video, make sure to like and
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subscribe. Let us know who you want to
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see an analysis of next, and as always,
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thanks for watching. 219
