Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen yesterday crashed out of his first BWF Japan Open after a hard-fought match against world No. 21 Kenta Nishimoto.
Nishimoto stunned fourth-seeded Chou 21-19, 21-23, 21-17 to finally claim his first international title, having lost in his previous six final appearances.
Chou, who reached the semi-finals of last week’s world championships in Tokyo, is known as badminton’s comeback king, but he could not find a way past Nishimoto in the third game.
Photo: AFP
“I just tried to keep pushing,” Chou said. “It worked in the second set, but in the third set I made some mistakes and it was difficult to move closer.”
Nishimoto’s win over world No. 6 Chou gave the home crowd something to cheer for after Japan’s No. 2 seed, Kento Momota, lost in the first round earlier in the week.
The 28-year-old Nishimoto said he was “really happy and also a bit relieved” after landing his first title.
Photo: AFP
“I was very worried going into the third game,” Nishimoto said of facing Chou. “He’s a veteran player with a lot of skill who knows how to play cleverly, so I had to be careful right until the end.”
Japan’s other home favorite, Akane Yamaguchi, won the women’s singles title, beating South Korea’s An Se-young 21-9, 21-15 in the women’s final.
Yamaguchi retained her world title last week in Tokyo and still had enough left in the tank to win her third tournament of the year.
“Me and my opponent were both really tired so I wanted to take control of the game right from the start,” the 25-year-old said. “I had to take it to the limit, and when I hit that limit, I had the crowd to push me forward.”
In women’s doubles, South Korea’s Jeong Na-eun and Kim Hye-jeong beat their compatriots Baek Ha-na and Lee Yu-lim 23-21, 28-26 to win the title.
Chinese pair Liang Weikeng and Wang Chan took the honors in men’s doubles, beating Denmark’s Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen 21-18, 13-21, 21-17.
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