Jakarta: World No. 1 women’s singles player Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan battled past No. 5 seed Chen Yufei of China in a tight three-setter on Sunday to not only claim her 5th title of the year, but also to extend her winning streak to 29 successive matches with a hard-fought victory that lasted 54 minutes.
The first set was a seesaw battle that found Chen saved a game point to finish 23-21. Tai took advantage of Chen’s deteriorating footwork and waning stamina to claim her second Indonesia Open title by winning the second and third set 21-15, 21-9. Tai, who previously won the Indonesia Open in 2016, extended her career meeting record against Chen Yufei to 9-0 after Sunday’s final.
“I made some unforced errors in the first set. I motivated myself to win the second set and to play my best for the rest of the match,” said Tai.
Tai who defeated another Chinese shuttler – He Bingjiao in the semifinals, is now eyeing the World Championships in Nanjing at the end of July and the Asian Games that will be held at the same stadium from August 18th to September 2nd.
“Thanks for the support from the Indonesia crowd. I am very happy and will come back for the Asian Games,” added Tai.
In addition to winning the men’s doubles title, Indonesia’s Rio Olympic gold medalists and defending champions Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir were on great form as they comfortably beat Malaysia’s Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying 21-17, 21-8.
Meanwhile, women’s doubles No. 2 seeds Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota outlasted compatriots Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara 21-14, 16-21, 21-14 in 56 minutes to win their maiden Indonesia Open crown.
