Saarland: The women’s singles No. 3 seed Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland finally snapped a two BWF Tour Super 100 finals losing streak on Sunday with a victory over No. 6 seed Yvonne Li of Germany 21-10, 21-17 in 34 minutes.
After winning the 2018 Scottish Open, Gilmour has experienced no joy in two Super 100 finals, including the 2019 Orléans Masters and the 2019 Russian Open as she ended up with the silver.
The 27-year-old Glasgow native returned to the court on Sunday for another shot at a Super 100 title, and this time, Gilmour did not let the opportunity slip through her fingers. She kicked off the final with her quickness and strong smashes to fluster the 22-year-old German in the first set.
Li seemed to gradually get used to Gilmour’s tactics in the second set, as she displayed strong defense, and managed to take control of rallies while taking the lead at 10-7, 12-10. Just when everyone would expect Li to force a decider, Gilmour suddenly regained her speed and aggressiveness, reeling off 4 points to lead at 14-12, and fought off a stubborn Li to win her first title in two years.
In the men’s singles final, unseeded Toma Junior Popov of France and No. 3 seed Mark Caljouw of Netherlands took the match to the distance, as the French capped a brilliant run in the decider to beat the Dutch 22-20, 19-21, 21-14 in 66 minutes.
The SaarLorLux Open was Popov’s first BWF World Tour title. He came from a badminton family where his father, Thomas, was a former Bulgarian and French national badminton player.
In the mixed doubles final, No. 3 seeds Mark Lamsfuss/Isabel Herttrich of Germany who won the Denmark Open on October 18, were stunned by No. 4 seeds Mathias Christiansen/Alexandra Boje of Denmark, losing 15-21, 21-19, 11-21 in a 72 minutes battle.
Meanwhile, unseeded Jeppe Bay/Lasse Molhede upset No. 8 seeds Daniel Lundgaard/Mathias Thyrri 21-13, 21-15 in an all-Danish men’s doubles final, while No. 1 seeds Gabriela Stoeva/Stefani Stoeva of Bulgaria have crowned the women’s doubles champions after seeing off No. 6 seeds Amalie Magelund/Freja Ravn of Denmark 21-8, 21-11.
