Taiwanese world No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) claimed another major badminton title when she routed South Korea’s Sung Ji-yun in straight sets, 21-14 and 21-13, at yesterday’s Dubai World Superseries final in the United Arab Emirates.
It was Tai’s second consecutive singles trophy after she won the Hong Kong Open Superseries last month.
Taiwanese fans and government officials hailed Tai as a national hero and an exemplary athlete for her determination and spirited play, while celebrating her finishing the year the world’s top female badminton player.
Kaohsiung-born Tai has tasted a string of successes over the past year.
Tai, 22, won the title in Indonesia and reached the final in Denmark, and was on peak form to secure yet another title in Dubai.
It was Tai’s second victory over world No. 5 Sung in a Dubai final after they faced each other in 2014 in a match that Tai won 21-17, 21-12 to claim one of her first major trophies.
Badminton officials said Tai is a “prodigious talent” who was deservedly seeded No. 1 for the tournament, while Sung said: “Tai is good at attacking and deceptive play.”
Fans said they were highly impressed with Tai’s swift pace, lightning-quick reactions and the disguise on her shots to confound her opponents.
In their earlier group match in Dubai, Tai lost to Sung 21-15, 21-19 after defeating her first two opponents.
Tai began the tournament in strong form, defeating China’s He Bingjiao (何冰嬌) 21-16, 21-13 in her opener and then cruising past Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand 21-12, 21-14.
Sung topped Group A with Tai in second place, as they both advanced to Saturday’s semi-finals.
They had gone head-to-head 16 times previously, with an even record of eight wins each.
In the other finals yesterday, world No. 4 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark won the men’s singles title by defeating Tian Houwei (田厚威) of China 21-14, 6-21, 21-17 for his 10th major tournament title.
Tai said in the post-match interview after her victory: “I really enjoy playing in Dubai, the whole place and the set-up is excellent.”
“It’s great to win two tournament titles here... I did not think too much about retaining the world No. 1 ranking. I just tried to enjoy playing the game, and take in the support of the fans,” she said.
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