Rising badminton star Huang Yuxiang of China shocked the tournament's No. 1 seeded-player Son Wan-Ho of South Korea to advance to the men's the semifinal round of the singles New Zealand Open at the North Shore Events Centre in Auckland on Friday.

Huang, currently the 51^st best player in world rankings, took out the world No. 13 South Korean with a hard fought two straight sets 21-19, 21-19, demonstrating an amazing composure in staging a 10-15 run in the second game.

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"This is one of the best wins of my career," Huang said. "When the game looked like it is going against me, I sped the play up and became brave in my shots, it was bravery that won the game for me."

Huang, 23, has a record of 41-24 and has already garnered a total of 28,130 points from 11 tournaments. The professional Chinese badminton player has cashed in prize money worth US$18,960.00.

The Badminton World Federation's (BWF) 61st ranked Teck Zhi Soo of Malaysia will be the Huang's next opponent for the tourney's finals berth. Soo, 23, who plays with his right hand, came in to the competition as the 16^th seed.

The New Zealand Open is an international badminton tournament which is a part of the BWF Grand Prix Gold. It features five events and has prize money of US$120,000.00.

Meanwhile, third-seeded player Lee Dong-keun of South Korea lost to the unseeded Riichi Takeashita of Japan 21-16, 17-21, 21-8 in the men's draw of the event. In the women's draw, No. 1 seed Sung Ji-hyun of South Korea advanced to the semifinal round after beating China's Chen Yufei  21-23, 21-14, 21-14.

In the men's doubles event, defending champions Zheng Siwei and Huang Kaixiang advanced to the semis with a victory against the duo of Kim San Rang and Kim Gi Jung of South Korea 17-21, 21-19, 21-16.

Tagsbwf rankings, bwf, new zealand open, Huang Yuxiang, Son Wah-ho