Fuzhou: World No. 1 Kento Momota of Japan won his 7th title of the year on Sunday, beating No. 4 seed Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan 21-13, 11-21, 21-16 in the China Open final.
The reigning World Champion from Japan collapsed on the court in relief and exhaustion over dethroning Chou in 67 minutes to win the BWF World Tour Super 750 tournament. This was Momota’s second victory over Chou in less than a month, since beating the Taiwanese in the Denmark Open final on October 21.
“This week’s matches were all very hard. The semi-final match against Chen Long yesterday was the toughest match in my career so far.”
“It’s difficult to describe, I laid on the court after the game because I’m exhausted.”
“In today’s final, we both were using a lot of doubles strategies instead of singles. It’s really a tough match for me.”
After the victory, Momota will become the third and the youngest men’s singles player to ever reach the 100k Badminton Word Federation (BWF) total ranking points. Malaysian badminton superstar Lee Chong Wei reach that incredible milestone on March 2014 at the age of 32 while China’s Chen Long also break the 100k mark on November 2015 at the age of 26. The 24-year-old Momota’s total ranking point will surge to 101,450 after the victory in Fuzhou.
In next week’s Hong Kong Open first round, Momota has once again been drawn against two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan of China.
In men’s doubles, top seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo from Indonesia was put to a stern test by unseeded He Jiting/Tan Qiang of China before prevailing 25-27, 21-17, 21-15 in 58 minutes.
