Paris: Four days after his 33rd birthday, Lee Chong Wei is back on top of the world again, with 40th career men’s singles Superseries titles to his name and a third French Open in the bag.
In one of the finest French Open finals of recent years, Lee Chong Wei showed his hunger for victory was still very much in evidence on Sunday, when he came out firing and won the opening set against Taiwanese Chou Tien Chen in the men’s singles finals with 21-13 in 19 minutes.
Lee Chong Wei was where he wanted to be, poised for his third French Open when he quickly opened up the second set lead with 12-1, and 17-8. Then the set started to slip from Lee’s hands when a defiant Chou Tien Chen fought through 11-point deficit to close the gap at 18-19. Despite the startling momentum swing in Chou’s favor, Lee held his nerve and converted next three points, scoring the championship point with a smash towards Chou’s right hand side to claim the French Open title, ended the second set with 21-18.
The 2015 French Open was Lee’s first Superseries since he last won the Japan Open Superseries in June 2014. Victory over Chou Tien Chen proved Lee Chong Wei still has what it takes to beat anyone at the highest level of the game.
In mixed doubles, No. 7 seeds Ko Sung Hyun/Kim Ha Na of Korea exacted revenge for their Thailand Open semi-final defeat against Indonesians Praveen Jordan/Debby Susanto on Sunday, when the Koreans defeated the Indonesians 21-10, 15-21, 21-19 in 68 minutes to win their second consecutive Superseries mixed doubles title in two weeks, having just won the mixed doubles title at last week’s Denmark Open.
Carolina Marin wasted no time finishing things off as she fought back from 16-18 deficit in the first set to take the opening set 21-18. Marin then eased away against an increasingly demoralized Wang 21-10 in the second set to clinch the women’s singles title.
Meanwhile, Mads Conrad-Petersen/Mads Pieler Kolding’s dream run through French Open came to an end as the unseeded men’s pair from Denmark was overpowered by No. 1 seeds Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong of Korea 21-14, 21-19 in in the men’s doubles finals in 56 minutes.
In an all-Chinese women’s doubles final, Huang Yaqiong/Tang Jinhua pulled off a massive upset when they stunned second seeds Luo Ying/Luo Yu 21-13, 21-16 in 53 minutes to win the women’s doubles crown.
Videos for French Open finals:
Lee Chong Wei vs Chou Tien Chen
Wang Shixian vs Carolina Marin
Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong vs Mads Conrad-Petersen/Mads Pieler Kolding
Lee Chong Wei is back!
