Basel: With four out of five events went down to the wire, Sunday’s Swiss Open finals could go down as one of the most exciting finals in Swiss Open history.
World No. 4 Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth, who created a major upset in the 2014 China Open Super Series Premier by beating five-time World champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist Lin Dan, showed nerves of steel on Sunday to prevail over his Danish opponent Viktor Alexson who ranked sixth in the world, winning 21-15, 12-21, 21-14 in the thrilling summit clash of the USD 120,000 event as the contest lasted 47 minutes.
This is the world No.4’s first title of the year after losing the India Open Grand Prix Gold final in Lucknow in January followed by a first round exit from All England earlier this month.
Emotions were running high in the men’s doubles final that featured Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong of Malaysia and Lu Kai/Cai Yun of China. Goh/Tan got off to a quick start by leading 17-15, 19-18 in the first set. Unfortunately, the Malaysian couldn’t hold on to the lead before Lu/Cai managed to reel off three consecutive points to win the first set.
Goh/Tan adopted a more aggressive tactic as they tore apart Lu/Cai to win the second set at 21-14.
Both pairs delighted the stadium with tenacity and athleticism in the third set. After the interval, Goh/Tan got their act together to level the score at 12-12 and 13-13. Nonetheless, succumbing to Lu/Cai’s unrelenting pressure, the Malaysian couldn’t maintain their level and committed several unforced errors at the critical moment to let the third set slip through their fingers by losing 17-21.
In an all-Chinese mixed doubles final, Lu Kai/Huang Yaqiong of China shrugged off their defiant compatriots Liu Cheng and Bao Yixin to lift the Swiss Open title by winning 17-21, 22-20, 21-13 in 64 minutes.
After several impressive victories in earlier rounds, Sun Yu of China was carrying quite a bit of momentum into the women’s singles final where she continued her dominant form by defeating Busanan Ongbumrungpan of Thailand 21-16, 21-12.
Fifth seeds Bao Yixin/Tang Yuanting of China who won the All England women’s doubles title last week, were pushed all the way by Japanese pair Ayane Kurihara/Naru Shinoya on Sunday in the Swiss Open women’s doubles final. Bao/Tang managed to survive a spirited surge from the Japanese pair, found their rhythm and fought their way back to eventually clinch the women’s doubles title by winning 21-6, 17-21, 21-17 in 57 minutes.
