Changzhou: Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting proved he is one of the promising badminton player to watch out for in the months and years to come as the spirited 21-year-old defeated World No. 2 Kento Momota of Japan 23-21, 21-19 to win his first ever BWF World Tour Super 1000 tournament at the China Open on Sunday.
Momota who won the Japan Open last week, came out strong and race to a 19-14 lead in the first set. Ginting showed his mental toughness to slowly chipping away at Momota’s lead and make a run to tie it at 21-21 before Momota dived to return a net shot from Ginting, but the Indonesian was able to hit a baseline return to close out the game.
The second set started in a similar fashion as Momota opened up a 15-10, 16-12 lead. But Ginting’s never-give-up attitude allowed him to keep digging himself out of holes as he tied the score at 16-16, and collapsing in joy after he scored the match point when Momota thought Ginting’s net shot was out of bound and decided not to return it.
“I was being more proactive in the last few points of both sets in order to win the match. However, Momota is still a very strong player and I respect him very much,” said Ginting.
Ginting who defeated Momota in the quarter-final of last month’s Asian Games in Jakarta, has been on a giant-killing spree mission at China Open as he upset two-time Olympic Champion Lin Dan, World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen, Rio Olympic Champion Chen Long, Asian Games runner-up Chou Tien Chen en route to the final.
“I have some technical details that need improvement, and I’ll work hard on those problems. I also need to pay attention to my style of play after leading in both games,” said Momota.
Ginting took home USD $70,000 for the victory while Momota bagged USD $34,000.
In men’s doubles, Denmark’s No. 8 seeds Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen were made to work before coming from a set down to beat home players Han Chengkai/Zhou Haodong 21-13, 17-21, 21-14.
The all-Chinese mixed doubles saw No. 1 seeds Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong of China overcame No. 5 seeds Zhang Nan/Li Yinhui 21-16, 21-9.
After winning last week’s Japan Open, reigning World Champion Carolina Marin of Spain won her second major title in two weeks as she beat Chen Yufei of China 21-18, 21-13 in 47 minutes to claim the women’s singles title.
Meanwhile, Japan’s No. 2 seeds Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi comfortably battled past newly-crowned world champions Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara 21-16, 21-12 in 34 minutes for the women’s doubles crown.
