New Delhi: After defeating Carolina Marin in the final of Malaysia Masters in January, World No. 8 women’s singles player, Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand picked up her second title of the year at the India Open on Sunday.
The No. 4 seed Intanon needed only 46 minutes to overcome No. 3 seed He Bingjiao of China 21-15, 21-14. It was a relatively easy win for Intanon in the final considering she held a 0-4 career meeting record against He Bingjiao, and He had showed her dominance by beating Indian second seed PV Sindhu, the 2017 winner, 23-21, 21-18 in Saturday’s semi-final.
“I learnt from those matches that I lost to He Bingjiao and I also watched her match against PV Sindhu yesterday,” said Intanon.
Previously, Intanon had also won the 2013 and 2016 edition of India Open.
In the women’s doubles title match, top seeds Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu of Indonesia dominated their first game against No. 3 seeds Chow Mei Kuan/Lee Meng Yean of Malaysia by winning the set 21-11.
Chow Mei Kuan/Lee Meng Yean missed three chances of forcing a decider when they couldn’t take advantage of three set points, allowing the Indonesian pair to rally from behind to win the second game 25-23.
Despite their runners-up finish, the India Open final was their best achievement this year after advancing to the quarter-final of Spain Masters last month.
Chow/Lee will be in action at the Malaysian Open next Tuesday where they will open against Thai pair, Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai.
Meanwhile, mixed doubles No. 1 seeds Wang Yilyu/Huang Dongping of China scored their first title of 2019 by easing past No. 5 seeds Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktavianti of Indonesia 21-13, 21-11 in just 34 minutes. The Indonesians also ended up as runners-up at the same tournament in 2018 when they lost to Mathias Christiansen/Christinna Pedersen of Denmark in the final.
