New Delhi: Defending champion Lee Chong Wei produced one of his finest performances to retain the men`s singles title with a straight-game victory over familiar foe Chen Long of China in the finals of the USD 250,000 Yonex Sunrise Metlife India Super Series on sunday.
In an all-Chinese women`s singles final, All England champion Shixian Wang, seeded second, kept her cool in crucial moments to overcome Olympic champion and top seed Li Xuerui 22-20 21-19 in a 47-minute clash. After this result, the two have four wins each.
World number one Lee from Malaysia was more precise with his strokes and made better judgements on court to defeat Chen 21-13 21-17 in a 55-minute battle to clinch his third title of the season, at the Siri Fort Sports complex here. He had won the All England and Malaysia Open early this year.
After the win, Lee, who turns 32 in October, said he might come back next year if he stays injury free.
"I dedicate this victory to my son who will be one year old next week. Next is Singapore Open. If I`ll remain injury free this year, then I might come back for India Open. Thanks to fans. I will be back for Thomas Cup," Lee said.
Shixian said: "I was confident ahead of the match as I had recently defeated her in the All England. I knew her game. Last year my game wasn`t stable. There were lots of ups and downs. So this season my target is to stay fit."
China also clinched the women`s doubles title with Yuanting Tang and Yang (F) Yu, who were among those banned during the match-fixing scandal at the London Olympics, prevailing over Korean pair of Kyung Eun Jung and Ha Na Kim 21-10 13-21 21-16 in an hour-long battle.
However, the Danish pair of Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen, seeded second, kept the Chinese at bay in the men`s doubles competition as they bounced back from a game down to outwit third seeds Xiaolong Liu and Zihan Qiu 17-21 21-15 21-15 in a match that lasted for an hour and six mintues.
London Olympic bronze medallist pair of Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen also continued their good run as they edged out fourth seeded Korean combo of Sung Hyun Ko and Ha Na Kim 21-16 18-21 21-18 to clinch the mixed doubles title.
Li had opened up a slim 4-2 lead early on but Shixian
soon turned the tables, leading 14-10. Li opened up a slender lead of 18-16 with the help of her accurate half smashes and smashes and reached 20-18 after grabbing two more points.
Shixian saved one and at 19-20, luck too favoured the 24-year-old as Li`s shuttle kissed the net and fell inside to allow the All England champion draw parity. Li then hit wide and erred at the net once again as Shixian walked away with the opening game.
Egged on by a sizable crowd, Li came back strongly in the second game and led 11-7 at the interval, but Shixian once again clawed her way back into the contest and drew level at 13-13, when Li`s back hand flick went long. What ensued was a neck and neck battle that went on till 18-18.
However, Li`s unforced errors came back to haunt her as she hit long and then one of her returns got buried at the nets as Shixian enjoyed two-match point advantage.
A smash went wide from Shixian to allow Li save a match point but once again Li netted the shuttle as Shixian pumped her fist in the air in celebration.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, April 6, 2014, 23:09
