India Open: An retains title with a scintillating display

She came, she saw, she won, again. An Se-young continued to prove why she is the most dominant women’s badminton player in the world at the moment, retaining her India Open title with a comprehensive 21-13, 21-11 victory over World No. 2 Zhi Yi Wang on Sunday.

If her dismantling of Ratchanok Intanon in the semifinals was a masterclass, the Korean served a reminder in the final that she had a lot more in her arsenal. The finalists may have been separated by just one place in the world rankings, but on the court, An was simply unbeatable.

She began with probing her opponent at the net, bringing Wang closer with deceptive drops only for the latter to realise they were non-returnable and hit the net or the net cord. She repeatedly set up the Chinese, making her work for every point only to fire a powerful smash down the line, hugging the marking tape on the mat.

With her range of strokes complemented by a strength that Wang struggled to counter, An raced to 7-1 in the opening game before the former switched plans, forcing the latter to go long and wide, earn quick points and close the gap to 15-13. But that was to be the last of her challenge, the second game being even more one-sided with An letting out a scream as the shuttle went wide at the net.

Taiwan’s Chun-Yi Lin, meanwhile, completely dominated Jonatan Christie, upsetting the higher-ranked Indonesian in straight games 21-10, 21-18 in just 38 minutes in the men’s singles final. Lin, who had to work hard for his previous wins against Lakshya Sen and Victor Lai, did not allow any space and controlled the play even as an increasingly frustrated Christie faded away despite a few sparks of fightback in the second game.

The results (finals): Men: Chun-Yi Lin (Tpe) bt Jonatan Christie (Ina) 21-10, 21-18.

Doubles: Wei Keng Liang & Chang Wang (Chn) bt Hiroki Midorikawa & Kyohei Yamashita (Jpn) 17-21, 25-23, 21-16.

Women: An Se-young (Kor) bt Zhi Yi Wang (Chn) 21-13, 21-11.

Doubles: Liu Sheng Shu & Tan Ning (Chn) bt Yuki Fukushima & Mayu Matsumoto (Jpn) 21-11, 21-18.

Mixed: Dechapol Puavaranukroh & Supissara Paewsampran (Tha) bt Mathias Christiansen & Alexandra Boje (Den) 19-21, 25-23, 21-18.