|
Korean Pair Shine in Mixed Doubles
South Korea's Olympic gold medal-winning pair of Lee Yong-dae and Lee Hyo-jung repeated their success in China when they won the China Open Super Series mixed doubles title in Shanghai over the weekend.
The two Lees won the gold medal in the Beijing Olympics and returned to China for more success in the country's national Open.
The fifth seeds went through a difficult draw to eventually win the title with a 21-16, 21-15 victory over Chinese pair Xu Chen and Zhao Yunlei.
On the way to the final, they had some difficult matches, including a hard-fought 21-12, 12-21, 21-14 quarter-final victory over China's top seeds He Hanbin and Yu Yang.
Even before that, in the first round, they needed three games to overcome Malaysia's Koo Kien Keat and Ng Hui Lin 23-21, 19-21, 21-12.
In the semi-finals, they had beat the third-seeded Danish pair of Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl 21-15, 21-16.
Unseeded Xu and Zhao claimed the scalp of their second-seeded compatriots Xie Zhongbo and Zhang Yawen, emerging as 23-21, 21-16 winners.
Zhang, however, did not leave the tournament with a gold medal as she partnered Zhao Tingting to the women's doubles title.
Zhan and Zhao, who were the fifth seeds, denied the Malaysian pair of China Eei Hui and Wong Pei Tty in the final as they won 21-14, 21-19.
The winning pair had the distinction of knocking out the top seeds from the tournament. That came in the semi-finals shen Zhang and Zhao defeated China's favoured pair of Du Jing and Yu Yang 21-18, 18-21, 21-14.
Before that, they had accounted for the third-seeded pair from Denmark, Lena Frier Kristiansen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl, who went down 21-17, 18-21, 21-9.
The Malaysians were the second seeds and were expected to at least reach the final. But they had some trouble on the way, especially in the semi-finals.
They were up against the fourth-seed pair of Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung, from South Korea, and needed three games to win that match 21-13, 11-21, 21-13.
The next tournament for all the players is the Hong Kong Open Super Series, one of the most popular events on the international circuit.
|
|
|
|
|
