South Korean badminton sensation An Seyoung ended her bad run of form against two-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi with a comeback win over her Japanese counterpart in the women's singles final of the India Open, becoming the first Korean to win the India Open in New Dehli on Sunday, January 22.
The 20-year-old, who had gone down fighting in a similar three-game summit clash at the Malaysia Open, dished out a repertoire of attacking and defensive shots during a 15-21, 21-16, 21-12 win over the world number one Japanese.
On Saturday, An Seyoung added two-time World championships bronze medallist He Bingjiao of China to her long list of big scalps in her fifth attempt on her way to a second successive world tour final of the season.
In the first game, Seyoung did not have a great start. From 6-6, Yamaguchi had stepped ahead to close out the opening game comfortably. At the interval of the second game, the Korean was once again lagging by two-point after fluffing her lines from being tied at 8-8. Pepped up by coach Sung Ji Hyun, Seyoung upped the ante and tried to play more angled returns.
Using cross-court drops and slices, she controlled the rallies using reverse slices and drops. The Japanese also missed the lines and fumbled at the nets to allow the Korean to take the match to the decider. The third game was a physical battle as the duo engaged in some energy-sapping rallies. After a 51-shot rally, Seyoung lay on the court after misjudging the shuttle.
Yamaguchi won two long rallies but the Korean produced many acute angled shots to recover from 3-6 down to 7-7 before moving to 11-8. The Japanese then came close to 11-13 but couldn't breach the gap with the Korean grabbing eight match points and sealing it when the Japanese hit the net.
"I was fighting with my strength. I ran fast in the opening game but I was making mistakes, so I worked on it and I was better in the second and third games," An Seyoung said.
"I don't think she made many mistakes. Both of us are quite fast on the court and we played really well. I actually don't know how I managed to win this."
(With PTI Inputs)
