LI-NING China Masters 2026 | Tomoka Miyazaki (JPN) vs Kaloyana Nalbantova (BUL) | QF

We'll play either Nozomi Okuhara or Wang Ziyi in the semi-finals tomorrow. You can see that Akane Yamaguchi is awaiting An Sui Yong or Kim Ga Eun. And it looks like An Sui Yong is well on her way, unsurprisingly. Well, these two have met just once before. Tomoko Miyazaki won that at the German Open. And again, she was pushed to three. A bit like yesterday's meeting with Tanvi Sharma, where she vastly outranks her opponent, but still was pushed in their previous meeting. Quarter-finals of the German Open, she won in three here. So Tomoko Miyazaki is 20 years of age, 165 centimeters tall or about 5'5", from Osaka. Ninth in the world. She's been higher at sixth. That was in June of last year. Former world junior champion of 2022. Look at both those matches. She has not cruised through this. Both lower ranks to her. And she has gone the distance in both long matches. Is that going to catch up with her? The youngster who has won three titles on the HSBC BWF World Tour. The most recent being the Taipei Open last year. It's been a while. Kalyana Nalbantova is also 20 years of age. Slightly taller, much taller. I should say 177. About 5'9". 39th in the world, the highest ranking. European junior champion both in 2022 and 2024. She's a runner-up at the U.S. Open. That's her best performance so far on the World Tour. That's a super 300. Losing to Lina Kristofferson. She beat Devika Sihag of India in the first game. But look at the second game. Former world champion Ratchanok Intanon. She defeated the six seeders out. Someone she also beat at the Uber Cup earlier in the year. So she is really someone who's starting to make waves. And they're grabbing the attention. She is making her debut here at the China Masters. This is He Xin of China. Chen Zhenyang is the service judge, also from China. Well, Miyazaki has had one good result here at the China Masters. She got to the semi-final back in 2024. She was out in the second round last year. She lost to An Sui Yang in that match in the semi-finals two years ago. Fantastic range of shots, Nalbantova. Well, Miyazaki yesterday against Tanvi Sharma. Tanvi came back into it. For a while, it looked like Miyazaki was just struggling. Again, that self-belief is something that we've seen before. That kind of doubt in her head. I think that's just going to give her such a big boost, isn't it? Nalbantova to have beaten Rachanok, who got a measure of revenge against the Malaysia Masters just about a month after that chastening Yuba Cup defeat, which was very close. It went to three, and it was 24-22 in the final game. That was certainly one of her biggest scalps. Nalbantova has gone well wide of her opponent. It's a good shot. Now starting to push away here, Miyazaki. So in her eight times that she's played, now nine if you include before this tournament, I should say, eight times she's played top ten players. The only one she has beaten is Rachanok. But she has pushed Supanidak Gatong, who we saw earlier today, and Tomoko Miyazaki, who of course we're watching right now. Pushed them both to three games. Being a bit wrong-footed there. Good play by Miyazaki. Nalbantova, just good reach, good wingspan. This goes a bit long there, Miyazaki. Good finish. Has come racing towards the net. Two points in it after a very decent start. Three of the last four points, four of the last five points have gone Nalbantova's way. I think she'll be happy with that. It's always quite special, isn't it, when you're in your first Super 750 for the final. You've done it at the expense of a great player there, Rachanok Internok, world number six. Miyazaki was under a little bit of pressure and is starting to push away again. Don't forget when she was playing Rachanok, Nalbantova was down 10-15. Nalbantova reeled off four straight points from 17 all to win that match. Good interval here, 11-6 to Miyazaki. Oh, she got that through. I wasn't sure she was going to make that. Really good shot. Oh, just wide. The idea was a good one. Nalbantova was not going to make that. It was right in the corner, but just a bit too wide. It's not going to go long, it will. Nalbantova just chipping away at that lead. Again, another good position that Miyazaki was in that is all but fast disappearing. Just told to calm it down by her coach, Nalbantova. It holds up. She'll be a little bit happy. I think there was a broken string in all of that. Good court coverage here from Nalbantova. But it is Miyazaki who gets that point and now moves five clear. Five-point run from Nalbantova when she was down 7-13. She needs something like that again here. Quickly, if she wants to stay in this. Well out there. Lots of game points now for Miyazaki. Eight of them in hand. Really good deception there and a hold from Miyazaki. Nalbantova couldn't do much with that. And it is Miyazaki who wins that first game. Maybe a lot more comfortable than we thought she might. 21-12. Well, you've got to say a fine start for Tomoko Miyazaki. Against a very tricky opponent who gets off to a nice start here. That's short. The Bulgarian needs to call that spirit with which she had to beat Ratchanok into one. Well, she wants to challenge. I'm sure there's a whole bunch of challenge there. It's out. Miyazaki is looking very good at the moment, you have to say. Challenge this time coming from Miyazaki. She feels it was out. Well, just out for Miyazaki. Nalbantova with a very competitive second game so far. Well, the fans clearly looking to get this moving. Miyazaki up by a couple. Open this up up there, Nalbantova. That's a lovely down the line smash. Similar to where we were in the previous game. Well, Nalbantova too slow. Nalbantova challenging here. No challenges left for the Bulgarian early on in the second game. That might come into her thinking a little bit. Into the net. Disappointing for Kalyana. Already an important lead start to build against her. Massive again. Showing far more motion than she normally does. That's snuck out. So at the interval then, Tomoko Miyazaki comfortable 11-5 in the second game. Having only won the first one. She certainly found it tricky on this end, didn't she, Nalbantova? Looks a bit perplexed at the moment. Oh, lovely pirouette. Good reactions. But just goes long. The tools are there. She's certainly someone to watch out for. But still needs honing, it would appear. Good work again. Miyazaki, it's not often you see this much in control. So dominant. She had a big 8-point run at the end. At 13-12 and it looked tight to win that first game. Miyazaki, she's just had an 8-point run come to an end here. When it was at 6-5. And I'm afraid the unforced errors are really coming through now for Nalbantova. Just skims over the net cord. He had something to go away, didn't she? Putting up a bit of a fight here. It's all coming a little bit too late. That was not the right shot necessary. Don't forget, Miyazaki was in a similar position. Like this here, against Danvi Sharma. And then Danvi suddenly just came good. And really piled the pressure up. Had a superb run. In the end, Miyazaki got there. But I wonder whether she can do something similar here. No, that was a good redirect from Miyazaki. Really low down, Nalbantova. Difficult for herself. And Miyazaki is nearly there. Such a wayward shot from the Bulgarian. And a huge lead here. It means she's got 10 match points here, Miyazaki. So, Miyazaki into her third semifinal of 2026. And her first at a super 750 level in a year and a half. Since the India Open of 2025. It's been a bit of a mixed bag for this year. China's been a good hunting ground. She was also in the semis at the China Open a couple of months ago. So, it's big smiles for her. Nalbantova, well, we know the talent that she has got. But today was not her day. After the big win over Ratchadakintonon. Maybe the hangover comes today. High point, of course, the final at the US Open. Actually, she's had a couple of quarterfinals elsewhere. But this is the big leagues making her 750 debut. Always going to be tough at this level. And it comes to an end at the quarterfinal stage. Tomoko Miyazaki of Japan beats Bulgaria's Karlyana Nalbantova. 21-12, 21-11. It's taken her just 34 minutes to do it. 35 minutes, I should say. Our final match of this session, it's women's doubles. Hirota Sakuramoto of Japan take on the Yamsaad sisters of Thailand. Final match of this session here on Court 2, China Masters 2026. They've gone through pretty quick, haven't they? And it's going to be women's doubles. Sayaka Hirota and Ayako Sakuramoto of Japan taking on Benyapa and Luntakan Yamsaad of Thailand. All those semi-final places up for grabs in the women's doubles. And the winner of our match takes on either Luo and Wang of China or Nakade and Takahashi of Japan.