Olympic champions Axelsen, An Se-Young clinch India Open titles in dominant fashion

Malaysian combination of Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzudding, who had ended India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty's run at the semifinals, produced another superlative show to outwit Korean pair of Kim Won Ho and Seo Seung Jae 21-15,13-21, 21-16 in the men's doubles final

New Delhi: Olympic champions Viktor Axelsen and An Se-young secured the men’s and women’s singles crowns respectively with dominating wins in lop-sided finals at the India Open Super 750 badminton tournament here on Sunday.

Axelsen, a 2017 and 2019 winner, prevailed 21-16 21-8 over last year’s finalist Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong in the men’s singles summit clash at the KD Jadhav indoor hall which was almost full despite the fact that no Indian was competing in the two finals.

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Axelsen, a two-time world champion, thus erased the disappointment of falling in the opening round of Malaysian Open Super 1000 last week to the same opponent.

In the women’s singles, it was another graceful performance from An Se-Young as she effortlessly packed off P Chochuwong 21-12 21-9.

Malaysian combination of Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzudding, who had ended India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty’s run at the semifinals, produced another superlative show to outwit Korean pair of Kim Won Ho and Seo Seung Jae 21-15,13-21, 21-16 in the men’s doubles final.

In the women’s doubles final, Japan’s Arisa Igarashi and Ayako Sakuramoto beat Kim Hye Jang and Kong Hee Young of South Korea 21-15 21-13 In the mixed doubles final, China’s Jiang Zhen Bang and Wei Ya Xin prevailed 21-18 21-17 over Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue.

Axelsen vs Lee

Lee, 2019 Hong Kong open winner, had finished as runner-up in the last edition and his dream of winning the title remained unfulfilled after he went down in the final for the second time in two years.

Lee made a good start, opening up a 6-3 lead. But Axelsen slowly build up the momentum to gather an 11-8 advantage at the break. Lee kept fighting but couldn’t pose a real threat as Axelsen took five-game points and converted after Lee went long.

The script didn’t change despite the change of sides as Axelsen moved from 10-6 to 19-6 with a series of booming smashes to dismantle Lee’s defence and complete the win in no time.