Top seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark has reached the men's singles final at the BWF Malaysian Open ©Getty Images

Top seeds Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and Akane Yamaguchi of Japan have reached the men’s and women’s singles finals at the Badminton World Federation’s Malaysian Open tournament.

Reigning Olympic men’s singles champion Axelsen defeated Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama 21-7, 21-15 to book his place in the final.

There he will take on another Japanese player in the form of Kodai Naraoka, who defeated eighth seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand 21-17, 19-21, 21-17.

In the women’s singles, the top four seeds featured in the semi-finals, with number one Yamaguchi, the two-time defending world champion, winning in two close sets against Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan 21-18, 21-16.

Yamaguchi will face the second seed in the final, with An Se Young of South Korea triumphing in three sets against fourth seed Chen Yufei of China 21-12, 19-21, 21-9.

Women's singles top seed Akane Yamaguchi has reached the final of the BWF Malaysian Open ©Getty Images
Women's singles top seed Akane Yamaguchi has reached the final of the BWF Malaysian Open ©Getty Images

The line-ups for the finals in the doubles competitions at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur were also completed today, following the semi-final encounters.

In the men’s final, third seeds Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia will take on unseeded pair Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang of India.

In the women’s doubles final, top seeds Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan will take on South Koreans Ha Na Baek and Yu Lim Lee of South Korea.

Finally in the mixed doubles final, Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino of Japan will face top seeds Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong of China.

The Malaysian Open is a BWF Super 1000 tournament, meaning it is a second tier level BWF competition.