Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying yesterday came close to winning a second consecutive title after her BWF World Tour Finals victory last month, but fell short in a decisive set of the Malaysia Open women’s singles final.
The 29-year-old got off to a strong start against An Se-young of South Korea at the Super 1000 tournament, but was outlasted 10-21, 21-10, 21-18, as the world No. 1’s steadiness and skillful defense was just enough to prevail.
For Tai who plans to retire at the end of this year, it might have been her final Malaysia Open.
Photo: EPA-EFE
She said she did everything she could to appreciate each match in the tournament, praising her supportive fans, especially in the final.
“When I fell behind, the fans were still rooting me on, urging me not to give up and give it everything I had,” Tai said.
An has been playing with a heavily strapped knee in the past months, limiting her movement, which Tai took advantage of early on in a run of unforced errors to take the first set.
However, as the 21-year-old An limbered up, she steadied her game and made few mistakes, while putting Tai in awkward positions to win the second set easily.
Both players also had to contend with strong “drift” in the arena affecting the shuttlecock. It benefited Tai in the first set and An in the second.
It should have helped Tai in the first half of the third set, but she could not take full advantage.
“I was behind 11-9 when we changed sides, which put more pressure on me in the second half of the third set,” she said.
An seemed poised to record a relatively comfortable win as the set wore on, taking an 18-13 lead.
It was a different story in the BWF World Tour Finals semi-finals, when Tai stunned An, coming back from a 19-10 deficit in the final set to triumph, a feat she nearly replicated yesterday.
Down 19-15, Tai ran off three straight points and had a smash down the line to tie the set at 19, but the shot was called just out, confirmed after a Tai challenge, and An clinched the match when Tai netted an awkward return on the next point.
Despite the loss, it was a good showing for the former world No. 1, who defeated Chen Yufei in their semi-final, Tai’s first win in five matches against the Chinese player who beat the Taiwanese in the women’s singles gold medal match at the Tokyo Olympics.
Super 1000 tournaments are the highest tier events after the World Championships, Olympic Games and World Tour Finals, and the ranking points Tai earns should vault her just above Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi to third in the world.
More important to Tai would be accumulating ranking points to get the highest seed possible at the Paris Olympics in late July.
On Saturday, world No. 21 Taiwanese shuttler Lin Chun-yi lost 21-16, 21-7 to world No. 9 Anders Antonsen of Denmark in the men’s singles semi-final.
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