Japan Dominates on Final Day of Yonex Australian Open Grand Prix Gold 2011
The last and the final day of the Yonex Australian Open Grand Prix Gold 2011 ended with Japanese domination on three of the titles on Sunday, the 10th of April.
The ‘Land of the Rising Sun’ grabbed the titles of Men’s Singles, Men’s Doubles and Women’s Doubles. Moreover, the German Open winner, Liu Xin of China, added the third Women’s Singles title in her
account, while Thailand’s Songphon Anugritayawon and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul claimed the Mixed Doubles title.
Six seed, Japan’s Sho Sasaki outplayed world number one Choong Hann Wong in the title match of Men’s Singles category of the tournament and defeated him in a decider set with the score-line 21-11,
12-21 and 21-19. The Japanese took an early six-point lead in the first frame and with a couple of double points he nudged the Malaysian down 21-11 and led the match.
However, he got a taste of his own medicine in the next set as the number eight seed Wong bounced back with some decent smashes, accumulating consecutive points to win the set 12-21. The third set
was a tossing-turning affair as both shuttlers tussled to gain the victory. At one stage, they were at 17-17, but the 28-year-old Sasaki finally grabbed the set at 21-19 to claim his title after an hour-long fight. Sasaki, after this victory, is now ranked
amongst the top 30 of the world.
In the Women’s Doubles category,Shizuka Matsuo and Mami Naito took on the former world number one pair, Chin Eei h*i and Wong Pei Tty of Malaysia, in the title match. The Malaysian pair made several
mistakes during the first set and the Japanese pair took a seven-point lead at 8-1. h*i and Tty bounced back later in the game but could not prevent the first-set defeat of 21-18. Matsuo and Naito clinched the second set quite easily at 21-11 and grabbed the
gold.
In the all-Japanese final of Men’s Doubles category, the pair of Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa defeated compatriots Naoki Kawamae and Shoji Sato by 21-17, 21-18. Both pairs qualified for the
semi-final stage of the All Japan Championship last year but they couldn’t meet in the final there. Both sets ended after a close fight with Endo and Hayakawa dominating the game and winning the title.
However, the mixed pair of Japan,
Hirokatsu Hashimoto and Mizuki Fujii,
faced defeat against Thailand’s Songphon Anugritayawon and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul who grabbed the Mixed Doubles titles with the final score 21-15 and 21-9, in Melbourne.
The top seeded Chinese shuttler, Liu Xin faced the six seeded Thai youngster, Porntip Buranaprasertsuk in the Women’s Singles title match. Xin outclassed Buranaprasertsuk in straight sets as she played
brilliantly throughout the match, covering all aspects of the game. The title-favourite triumphed over her Thai opponent with relative ease to clinch her third title in the season. The final score of the match was 21-14, 21-9.
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