Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) yesterday clinched the women’s singles title at the Badminton World Federation’s Indonesia Open in Jakarta with a win against China’s Wang Zhiyi (王祉怡).
Tai defeated Wang, the winner of the Badminton Asia Championships, 21-23, 21-6, 21-15, in a match that lasted 60 minutes.
The win gave Tai her third Indonesia Open title and her second of the season, after the Thailand Open last month. It was also a timely birthday gift for Tai, who turns 28 today.
Photo: Adek Berry, AFP
Tai, who bagged a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics last year, won her first title of the season at the Thailand Open, when she defeated her long-standing rival Chen Yufei (陳雨菲) of China 21-15, 17-21, 21-12 in the final.
On Saturday, world No. 2 and second seed Tai again beat Chen, the Tokyo Olympics gold medalist, in the Indonesia Open semi-finals to advance to the final against world No. 14 Wang.
Tai, the Asian champion in 2016 and 2018, got off to a shaky start against Wang, lagging 8-14 and eventually losing the first game 21-23.
Photo: AFP
“Wang played with very good ball control. I put the burden on myself because of my own mistakes,” Tai said via an interpreter after the match.
However, Tai quickly adjusted and upped the tempo to take a 11-0 lead in the second game, and went on to score a comfortable 21-6 victory.
“I’m very happy that a lot of people cheered me on, as it became my motivation during the match today,” she said.
Tai played more flexibly in the early part of the decider, opening a 6-1 lead, but Wang showed tenacity and worked hard to catch up. Tai eventually won the hard-fought game 21-15.
The purse at the Super 1000 Indonesia Open totaled US$1.2 million.
Additional reporting by AFP
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