Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday won her fourth BWF World Tour Finals title, beating Spain’s Carolina Marin 12-21, 21-14, 21-18 in the women’s singles final in Hangzhou, China.
Tai is now tied with retired Chinese shuttler Li Lingwei for the second-most women’s singles Finals titles, behind Indonesia’s Susi Susanti.
While Tai, competing in a record-equaling 10th Finals, earned the first point in the opening seconds of their first game, Marin quickly took the lead, forcing Tai to fight hard in the closely matched final.
Photo: AFP
World No. 4 Tai and world No. 5 Marin were tied in head-to-head showdowns before the tournament, both having won 11 of their previous 22 matches against each other since 2014. The Spaniard most recently topped the Taiwanese shuttler 19-21, 21-15, 21-18 at the Victor Denmark Open in October, while Tai beat Marin 21-17, 10-21, 21-19 at the Victor China Open the month before that.
It was clear early on that yesterday’s match would be no different. After scoring tit-for-tat points in the opening moments of the first game, Marin went on a streak, taking an 18-9 lead, before winning 21-12.
While Tai seemed to thrive on making a comeback in the semi-final, she struggled against Marin.
Photo: AFP
It was a close replay of their 2020 Finals match, when Tai last won the title after shaking off a first-game loss and beat Marin 14-21, 21-8, 21-19.
This time was harder. Marin continued to match Tai for nearly every point earned in the second game, until Tai went on a six-point streak to take and widen her lead to 15-11. That seemed to give her enough confidence to win the game 21-14.
In the final game, the two continued to match nearly every point, with Marin determined to win her first Finals title, or at least not give it up without a fight. The battle broke with Tai racking up six straight points to take a 19-13 lead. While the Spaniard got closer to evening the score, the Taiwanese held her ground to take the match 21-18.
On Saturday, Tai made a stunning comeback against world No. 1 An Se-young in their semi-final. The South Korean had beaten the Taiwanese in 10 of their previous 12 matches, including the day before.
In their final game, Tai avoided a seventh straight loss, rising from a nine-point deficit to win 19-21, 21-15, 22-20.
“I don’t remember the last time I made such a comeback,” Tai told the BWF Web site. “I can only remember my opponents catching up with me from a huge gap. Maybe my opponents can remember the matches where I caught up with them from a big gap.”
In April Tai announced that she would retire next year.
In yesterday’s first match, South Korea’s Kang Min-hyuk and Seo Seung-jae beat China’s Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang 21-17, 22-20 in 43 minutes to win the men’s doubles title.
In the women’s doubles, China’s Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan dominated South Korea’s Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee 21-16, 21-16.
In the mixed doubles final, China’s Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong beat out compatriots Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping 21-11, 21-18.
The final match of the day, the men’s singles final, saw world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark beat world No. 7 Shi Yuqi of China 21-11, 21-12.
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