MALAYSIA OPEN: SWEET REVENGE FOR YU QI, AN IMPRESSIVE SE YOUNG DISPLAYS HUNGER FOR MORE

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12 (Bernama) -- China’s men’s singles ace Shi Yu Qi was crowned as the new Malaysia Open champion, by exacting sweet revenge over title holder Anders Antonsen of Denmark in the 2025 edition, here today.

The opening set was a one-way traffic, with Antonsen unable to find any answer to Yu Qi’s exceptional gameplay, allowing the top seed to hammer the Dane 21-8.

Down 9-11 at the second set interval, the world number one unleashed unstoppable surge, mounting a comeback point by point to take the lead 14-11 and claimed the title with a 21-15 victory in 39-minutes of the season opening final at the Axiata Arena.

The victory not only helped the 28-year-old to avenge 14-21, 13-21 in last year’s final loss to Antonsen but he ended Denmark’s three-year domination after two-times Olympic Games gold medallist Viktor Axelsen secured the title in 2022 and 2023.

Yu Qi said he was delighted to emerge the first Chinese men’s singles player to win the competition since world badminton icon Lin Dan clinched it in the 2019 edition.

“I think my performance now is better than before,” he told reporters in a post-match interview at the mixed zone, here.

Despite his disappointment, Antonsen said that it simply wasn’t his day and admitted that his opponent was the better player today.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s An Se Young showed exactly why she’s the ‘hottest’ women’s singles shuttler at the moment as she effortlessly lived up to her bill as top seed to defend the Malaysia Open title against second seed Wang Zhi Yi of China.

After taking the first set 21-17, the world number one proved to be too hot too handle for Zhi Yi, steamrolling the world number two, 21-7, in just 45-minutes.

“I just played my game and being persistent, that’s why I was able to win today,” she said when asked about the key factor that contributed to her first title of the new season.

As she kicked off the new season with a bang, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games gold medallist had warned her rivals that today’s victory had boosted her confidence to hunt for more titles and surpass her record-breaking 10 titles, in 2023.

Both Yu Qi and Se Young pocketed USD101,500 respectively (approximately RM456,000) as champions while Antonsen and  Zhi Yi took home prize money worth USD49,300 (approximately RM221,000).

-- BERNAMA