Badminton world No. 2 Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) of Taiwan yesterday won the Yonex Taipei Open for a fourth time, beating World No. 35 Saena Kawakami of Japan 21-17, 21-16 at the Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium.
World No. 4 Chou Tien-chen (周天成) also did Taiwan proud in the men’s singles, beating World No. 38 Kodai Naraoka of Japan 14-21, 21-10, 21-6 in 1 hour, 1 minute.
Tai’s final lasted 37 minutes — her longest match during the tournament.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Despite Tai taking an early lead in both games, Kawakami managed to even the score twice during the first game and was just one point behind Tai during the second.
After the match, Tai said that Japanese players always play steadily and move fast, and she had to remind herself to keep unforced errors to a minimum.
Tai became the third female player to win four women’s singles titles at the Taipei Open, after winning it in 2012, 2016 and 2018. The others are Kirsten Larsen of Denmark and Sung Ji-hyun of South Korea.
Photo: CNA
“It’s been 10 years. It means I’ve been playing for quite a while, but I will still try” to win more titles, Tai said.
It was also her third title this season, following back-to-back wins at the Thailand Open in May and the Indonesia Open last month.
Tai, who won silver at the Tokyo Olympics, said she next plans to play at the Japan Open from Aug. 30 to Sept. 4.
Photo: CNA
Asked if she would try to defend her title at the Taipei Open next year, Tai said: “Let me finish the tournaments this year, and we will see next year.”
In the men’s doubles, Taiwanese Olympic gold medalists Lee Yang (李洋) and Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) lost 18-21, 21-11, 18-21 to Man Wei-chong (萬緯聰) and Tee Kai-wun (鄭凱文) of Malaysia.
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