BANGKOK • Top-ranked Tai Tzu-ying won the women's singles badminton World Tour Finals title in a dramatic cliffhanger yesterday, blocking reigning Olympic champion Carolina Marin's bid for a hat-trick of titles in three weeks.
The all-Danish men's singles final was equally nail-biting as Anders Antonsen also denied Viktor Axelsen his third tournament win.
Marin had defeated the Chinese Taipei player in the past two weeks during the previous Thailand Open tournament finals.
But the Spaniard had a shaky start yesterday as Tai exploited holes in her defence early.
Marin mounted a successful comeback in the later stages to win the opening game, and was loud and feisty in her verbal celebrations but her visibly annoyed opponent soon found her own voice.
In the second game, Tai dominated early and dictated a commanding pace, eventually triumphing easily. The decider was filled with fast and furious rallies - both players repeatedly traded places on the scoreboard - but two late spectacular drop shots were critical in sealing Tai's victory 14-21, 21-8, 21-19.
"Before this match today, I kept telling myself that I had to play patiently. In the previous matches, all my mistakes were caused (by) my own impatience," she said.
Despite her loss, sixth-ranked Marin was still proud of her campaign in Bangkok.
"I'm not really happy but I think it was really three good weeks for me. Two titles and a final, it's very difficult for any player," she said.
World No. 4 Axelsen could not control his nerves, with his body language showing immense frustration as errors piled up and shots landed wide en route to losing the first game.
He managed to regroup to win the second game, but in the decider, third-ranked Antonsen had all the right answers, triumphing to claim the 21-16, 5-21, 21-17 victory over his ruffled opponent.
"In the second game, I was saving up energy for the third game because I knew I didn't have the resources," he said.
"I had to be very calculated. I decided it would be smarter to go for the third game."
Antonsen is the only man to beat Axelsen in more than a year and the losing finalist admitted he was well beaten.
"I think mentally I've used up a lot of energy. Anders played really well and I want to congratulate him," he said.
The women's doubles was an all-Korean showdown and fourth-ranked Lee So-hee and Shin Seung-chan were pushed all the way by sixth-ranked Kim So-yeong and Kong Hee-yong before earning a 15-21, 26-24, 21-19 win.
In the men's doubles, seventh-ranked Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin of Chinese Taipei won their third title as many weeks, beating Indonesian duo Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan 21-17, 23-21.
In the mixed doubles, Thai third seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai became local heroes, sealing their third title here with a 21-18, 8-21, 21-8 victory over sixth-ranked South Koreans Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jung.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
