Thai beats Tai – Ratchanok causes upset in Masters final
Thai badminton queen Ratchanok Intanon kicked off her 2018 season in style as she upset world No 1 Tai Tsu Ying of Taiwan 21-16 14-21 24-22 to win the Malaysia Masters in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
The world No 5 saved two match points to win the dramatic final showdown in 65 minutes for her seventh title in the BWF World Tour Super 500 or higher level, previously known as the SuperSeries or SuperSeries Premier.
“It was a very tough battle but I was more consistent towards the end. I overcame my own nerves to win my first tournament of the year,” said Ratchanok as she received her winner’s cheque for US$26,250.
Ratchanok’s win meant the women’s singles titles of the first two events of 2018 have both been won by Thais, following Nichaon Jindapol’s triumph in the Thailand Masters last week.
The top seed got off to a great start, unleashing a series of impressive short cross-court shots to gain several points from the Thai to lead 9-5 before Ratchanok staged a fightback to level for 9-all.
Tai, however, smashed the shuttlecock into the body of her Thai opponent to take a narrow lead 11-10 at the intermission.
They later traded good quality shots and exchanged leads until it was the Thai who dictated points to jump to 19-16. She tapped an easy backhand into the open court to set up a game point and wrapped it up with a smash winner to take the opener in 16 minutes.
In the second game, the Taiwanese proved more consistent in her game and took a 11-8 lead. She carried the momentum to extend the lead to 17-12, combining well disguised shots and powerful smashes to keep the Thai off balance. She successfully took the match into the decisive game after replying a short service return to force an error from Ratchanok.
In an exhilarating third game, Ratchanok shrugged off some rusty play to fight back from 15-18 to draw level at 19 all. The world No 1 was twice away from the triumph at 20-19 and 21-20 only to hit two shots long on both occasions.
Ratchanok then smashed a shot into the body of Tai to go up 23-22 before the latter hit an easy shot into the net to surrender. Ratchanok extends her head-to-head record over Tai to 11-9.
She will next head for two World Tour Super 500 in Indonesia Masters and India Open next and the following weeks.
In the men’s singles, world No 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark recovered from a second-set deficit to beat Japanese world No 29 Kenta Nishimoto 21-13 21-23 21-18 for his sixth title in the BWF World Tour Super 500 or higher level.
