Hong Kong: After Chong Wei Feng of Malaysia handed him the first round exit at last week’s China Open, a rejuvenated Son Wan-ho of Korea came roaring out of the gates in the men’s singles final to beat world champion Chen Long of China 21-19, 21-16 for the Hong Kong Open title on Sunday.
Although Chen held a 6-1 head-to-head record against Son prior to the match, it was the Korean who continued to dominate Chen throughout the match with more aggressive tactics, to eventually dismantle the top seed in 57 minutes to win his first Superseries title of the year.
Japanese youngster Nozomi Okuhara’s fairy-tale run finally came to an end on Sunday, when she was tamed by sixth seed Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan in women’s singles final 19-21, 11-21. Together with last year’s Malaysian Open championships, Tai now has two Superseries titles under her belt.
In men’s doubles final, Indonesian second seeds Mohd Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan spent nearly 61 minutes fighting off 2013 All England champions Liu Xiaolong-Qiu Zihan in an intense and combative match by coming out on top 21-16, 17-21, 21-15. This is the Indonesian duo’s third titles of the year after winning Asian Games and All England Badminton Championships.
Second seed Tian Qing / Zhao Yunlei seized the initiative and taking firm control of the match to break top seed Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi in women’s doubles final winning 21-13, 21-13 in 53 minutes. Zhao Yunlei then teamed up with her boyfriend Zhang Nan to knock out teammate Xu Chen / Ma Jin for their fourth mixed doubles Superseries titles of the year.
