Taiwan’s badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) yesterday won her fifth Taipei Open, beating the US’ Zhang Beiwen in only 31 minutes.
Tai, who turned 29 on Tuesday — the first day of the Super 300 event — came into the tournament as the top seed and raced past her first four opponents without dropping a game before defeating Zhang 21-14, 21-17.
It was Tai’s eighth straight win over 32-year-old Zhang, and her second straight Taipei Open title and fifth overall, having also won the event in 2012, 2016 and 2018.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kun, Taipei Times
Former world No. 1 Tai has come a long way since first competing in the qualifying round of the 2009 Taipei Open at the age of 15.
Yesterday, Tai said she was surprised when reminded that she won her first Taipei Open title more than 10 years ago, and said she was glad that the sport has grown in popularity since then.
“Badminton in Taiwan is becoming more popular than before. There are more people watching, playing and caring about the sport. Even though I plan to retire next year, I believe this trend will not fade,” Tai said.
Tai in April said she plans to hang up her racket at the end of next year, giving her one more shot at the Olympics.
As a Super 300 event, the Taipei Open did not attract top-ranked players from the around the world, and as the world No. 4, Tai had been favored to win.
Tai has not reached the final of any other BWF World Tour event this year, with semi-final losses to South Korea’s An Se-young in England in March and Singapore this month, and to Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in Malaysia in January.
Yet she did win the Badminton Asia Championships in Dubai in April by defeating Yamaguchi in the semi-finals and An in the final.
She is next scheduled to compete in the Korea Open on July 18.
In the men’s singles, Indonesia’s Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo beat Taiwan’s Su Li-yang (蘇力揚) 23-21, 21-15.
Taiwan’s Lu Ching-yao (盧敬堯) and Yang Po-han (楊博涵) managed to last three games in the men’s doubles final, but ultimately lost 20-22, 21-17, 21-14 to the Malaysian pairing of Man Wei Chong and Tee Kai Wun.
In the mixed doubles, Malaysia’s Chen Tang Jie (陳堂傑) and Toh Ee Wei defeated Taiwan’s Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤) and Lin Xiao-min (林筱閔) 21-12, 21-8, while South Korea’s Lee Yu-lim and Shin Seung-chan beat Indonesia’s Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Amallia Cahaya Pratiwi 18-21, 21-17, 21-17 in the women’s doubles.
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