Jakarta: World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen who won the 2021 Indonesia Open in a closed-door atmosphere in Bali last year, was unstoppable on Sunday when he completed the 2022 Indonesia Open final whitewash over Zhao Jun Peng of China, winning 21-9, 21-10 in 38 minutes.
Axelsen said being able to win the 2022 Indonesia Open was a dream come true for him.
“It’s a dream to be able to win such a big title here today,” said Axelsen after the final.
“In the final, I was trying to control the drift as well as possible. I tried to play quickly today and I am satisfied with the result, especially since I have spent a lot of energy against Lee Zii Jia in the semi-finals,” added Axelsen.
Since winning the Tokyo Olympics gold medal, Dane appeared to have reached another new height in his career. Before capturing the 2022 Indonesia Open, he already won the 2022 All England, European Championships, and the 2022 Indonesia Masters. He didn’t lose a set at the Indonesia Masters last week, and he only lost two games in the 2022 Indonesia Open, one was against Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia in the quarter-finals, and another one was against Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the semi-finals.
In men’s doubles, China’s World No. 75 Liu Yu Chen/Ou Xuan Yi were finally able to win their first title in the Super 1000 level as a pair on Sunday by defeating World No. 83 Choi Sol Gyu/Kim Won Ho of Korea 21-17, 23-21.
“We made a lot of errors on serve at the start of the match. Our opponents also played with fast speed which created some difficulties for us,” said Liu after the match.
Liu was previously paired with Li Junhui, who decided to retire after winning the men’s doubles silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
“Even though my partner has changed, my training is still the same. I still practice with high intensity and my target is still to perform optimally in every tournament,” added Liu.
“We are very happy to be able to win our first Super 1000 level tournament so that our world rankings could go up,” said Ou after the match.
