Ratchanok falls to the guns of Wang in Korea
Badminton world champion Ratchanok Intanon failed to break the hoodoo and lost once again to China's Wang Yihan in the final of the US$600,000 Korea Open Superseries in Seoul yesterday.
Third-seeded Wang performed solidly to stun the second-seeded Thai teenager 21-13 21-19 in 46 minutes to capture the season-opening competition.
The latest victory has taken Wang’s winning streak against Ratchanok to an incredible eight matches.
Wang, who crashed out in the second round of the Korea Open last year, had stamped her authority on many major competitions including the Hong Kong Open, Denmark Open, Singapore Open, German Open and Asian Championships.
Meanwhile, top-seeds Boe Mathias and Mogensen Carsten of Denmark shattered China’s dreams of making a clean sweep of the titles in this year’s Korea Open when they brushed off Fu Haifeng and Hong Wei 21-12 21-17 to take the men’s doubles crown.
Earlier, second-seeded Chen Long overpowered Malaysian ace and world No 1 Lee Chong Wei 21-14 21-15 to clinch the men’s singles title.
In the mixed-doubles event, top seeds Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei outclassed second seeds Xu Chen and Ma Jin 21-18 21-18 in an all-Chinese final.
Bao Yixin and Tang Jinhua claimed the women’s doubles title with an impressive 21-17 21-15 win over their compatriots the Luo sisters, Ying and Yu.
The Thai shuttlers, including Ratchanok, will next take part in the Malaysia Open Superseries Premier in Kuala Lumpur between January 14 and 19, and hope to improve their world rankings in the $500,000 tournament.
