The all Danish men's singles final was equally nail biting as Anders Antonsen denied Viktor Axelsen a third tournament win
Taiwan's Tai Tzu-ying with the World Tour Finals winner's medal and trophy yesterday. Pic/AFP
Top-ranked Tai Tzu-ying won a dramatic cliffhanger women's badminton World Tour Final in Bangkok Sunday, blocking reigning Olympic champion Carolina Marin's bid for a hat-trick of titles in three weeks. The all Danish men's singles final was equally nail biting as Anders Antonsen denied Viktor Axelsen a third tournament win. Marin beat the Taiwanese 26-year-old two weeks in a row during the previous Thailand Open tournament finals. The Spaniard had a shaky start Sunday as Tai exploited holes in her defence early, but Marin mounted a successful comeback in the later stages winning the opener 21-14. Marin was loud and fiesty in her verbal celebrations, but a visibly annoyed Tai soon found her own voice. In the second game Tai dominated early and dictated a commanding pace, eventually triumphing 21-8. The decider was filled with fast and furious rallies -- both players yo-yoed up and down the scoreboard -- but two late spectacular drop shots were critical in sealing Tai's victory 21-19. "Before this match today I kept telling myself that I had to play patiently.
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In the previous matches, all my mistakes were caused (by) my own impatience," Tai said. Marin was proud of her campaign in Bangkok. "I'm not really happy but I think it was really three good weeks for me. Two titles and a final, it's very difficult for any player," Marin said. Thailand has hosted three consecutive badminton tournaments in a bio-secure coronavirus bubble, without spectators, to guard against the pandemic -- although there were four positive cases, including two players. Axelsen, ranked fourth, couldn't control his nerves -- losing the first game 16-21 -- his body language showing immense frustration as errors piled up and shots landed wide. He managed to regroup to win the second game 21-5. But in the decider Antonsen had all the right answers, triumphing 21-17 to claim the game and the hour-long match against an increasingly ruffled Axelsen. "In the second game I was saving up energy for the third game because I knew I didn't have the resources. I had to be very calculated. I decided it would be smarter to go for the third game," Antonsen said. Antonsen is the only man to beat Axelsen in more than a year.
Anders Antonsen. Pic/AFP
"I think mentally I've used up a lot of energy. Anders played really well and I want to congratulate him," Axelsen said. The women's doubles was an all-Korean showdown with fourth-ranked Lee So-hee and Shin Seung-chan pushing sixth-ranked Kim So-yeong and Kong Hee-yong to three games over 92 minutes. Lee and Shin lost the first game 15-21 before scrapping through to claim the second 26-24. They had momentum early in the third game and were able to hold off a late resurgence from their opponents to win the decider 21-19. In the men's doubles, seventh-ranked Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin of Taiwan won their third title in three weeks. They beat Indonesia's Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan 21-17, 23-21 in 37 minutes. Lee admitted the pair were nervous coming into the finals. "We were playing our idols. I thought: 'oh my god, oh my god.' Three titles is incredible," he said. In the mixed doubles, Thailand's third seeds Sapsiree Taerattanachai and Dechapol Puavaranukroh became local heroes claiming a trio of titles in three weeks. They beat sixth-ranked South Koreans Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jung 21-18, 8-21, 21-8.
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