World No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan defended her title at the Denmark Open yesterday, defeating world No. 4 Nozomi Okuhara 21-17, 21-14 in the women’s singles final in a tactical match that lasted 40 minutes.
Tai played a superb net game in her fifth final of the year and put pressure on the deep forehand of the Japanese shuttler.
The 24-year-old Okuhara attempted to get back into the match by delivering smashes down the line to trail Tai by only a few points for most of the first game.
However, Okuhara’s indecisiveness got the best of her after 25-year-old Tai won the first game 21-17.
Okuhara initially switched up the momentum in the second game, taking an early lead after switching between backhand and forehand attacks.
However, Tai took the lead halfway into the game with aggressive strikes and disguised pushes deep into the forehand corner.
The faces on the Japanese bench began to show signs of concern when the Taiwanese ace won eight consecutive points in the second game.
Encouragement from Tai supporters in the crowd preceded a reverse-slice straight-backhand drop-shot from Tai to win the second game 21-14 for her third title of the year.
Tai, who won 42 of the 73 total points played, said she was very happy to play in Denmark, because people there support her whenever she competes.
“I think this court gives me a very good feeling, because it feels as if the focus of the audience is on me and I really like that feeling,” she said.
As well as defended her title, she extended her head-to-head record against the 2017 world champion Okuhara to 6-4.
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