Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying on Sunday clinched her third women’s singles title at the Yonex All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham.
The world No. 2 triumphed over top seed, world No. 1 and defending champion Chen Yufei of China 21-19, 21-15 in a final that lasted 44 minutes.
The win secured the 25-year-old Kaoshiung native her third title at the event, making her the first Taiwanese to claim the treble.
Photo: AFP
Tai won the tournament in 2017 and 2018, before losing to Chen in the final last year.
Tai fell to a 2-6 deficit before scoring four straight points to level the first game.
Known for her unpredictable and versatile play, Tai sent the shuttle flying around the court with disguised drops to keep Chen, who had been returning well, away from the net, as she narrowly won the first game 21-19.
Photo: Reuters
The scores were again neck-and-neck in the second game as Chen held on, waiting for Tai to make mistakes, but after the score reached 10-10, Tai found another gear, winning 10 of the next 15 points and reaching match point at 20-15.
A return by Chen then fell wide, securing Tai her third All England Open title.
The victory improved Tai’s head-to-head record against Chen to 15-3.
The two last faced off in the final of the Perodua Malaysia Masters in January, where Tai suffered a straight-games defeat.
Tai said that she was very excited to reclaim the All England Open title and was familiar with Chen’s style because the two have played each other so many times.
“She [Chen] has always been a consistent player, whereas I tend to make relatively more errors. Playing against her gives me pressure, but luckily today I was able to control the rallies,” Tai said.
Tai also thanked the fans in English for their support, saying how happy she was to play in England.
Earlier in the men’s singles final, Taiwanese top seed Chou Tien-chen was defeated by Viktor Axelsen of Denmark.
The world No. 2 fell to second seed and world No. 7 Axelsen 21-13, 21-14 in a match that lasted 46 minutes.
Chou began too passively, allowing Axelson to gain points quickly early on.
The Dane capitalized on aggressive attacks by getting close to the net, gaining control and then releasing a series of smashes at the body.
Chou’s frustration built toward the end of the second game as the match turned into one-way traffic, with the Taiwanese unable to find answers to Axelson’s superb form.
“You know getting a good start is pretty important, especially in the final,” Axelson said.
Chou said that he had been below his best.
“I tried to put in a better performance, but I wasn’t able to control the rallies as well as Viktor was able to,” Chou said. “I didn’t play to my 100 percent, and I didn’t expect that, but that’s the way it is.”
Despite the loss, Chou was the first Taiwanese to reach the men’s singles final in the history of the tournament, while Axelson ended a 21-year wait for a Dane to claim the title since Peter Gade in 1999.
Additional reporting by AFP
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but