China’s Wang Zhi Yi mustered all that she could to pick up a rare win over tournament top seed An Se-young from South Korea for the Women’s Singles crown of the Denmark Open that was played at the Jyske Bank Arena in Odense.
It was only world no. 3 Zhi Yi’s third win in 11 meetings over the 22-year-old Olympic gold medallists.
In the final, Zhi Yi took 39 minutes to overcome Se-young 21-10, 21-12 to add the BWF Super750 Denmark title to the Indonesia Masters, Malaysia Masters and also the China Open she won this year.
The victory was a follow up to the win scored by an all-China affair in the Mixed Doubles when top seed Feng Yan Zhe-Huang Dong Ping followed up their win over compatriots, Jiang Zhen Bang-Wei Ya Xin in the Arctic Open 2024 the previous week.
It was another fierce battle on the cards for the top two pairs at the Denmark Open with Yan Zhe-Dong Ping again emerging 15-21, 21-18, 21-17 victorious.
The win increased their head-to-head record to 9-2.
China would then picked up their third title at the Denmark Open when top seed and current world No. 1 Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang denied the homeboys – Kim Astrup-Andres Skaarup Rasmussen – for the Men’s Doubles crown.
The Malaysia Open and Indonesia Open winner this year took just 40 minutes to put down the challenge of second seed Astrup-Rasmussen in straight set 21-18, 21-17.
It was Wei Keng-Wang Chang’s fourth win in five matches over the Danish pair.
However, China’s march was halted in the Women’s Doubles when top seed Liu Sheng Shu-Tan Ning could not get the better of Japan’s Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi, who were seeded fourth.
In the match that was stippled by long rallies Iwanaga-Nakanishi, who were winners at the Malaysia Masters and also the Canada Open, refused to be daunted when they coast to a 21-18, 21-14 win for only their second victory in three matches over the Chinese pair.
In the meantime, the home fans finally had something to cheer in Odense when Anders Antonsen delivered the Men’s Singles title.
But world No. 4 Antonsen certainly did not have it easy when Koki Watanabe from Japan – ranked 13th in the world – puts up some stern defense to stretch the game to almost an hour before succumbing 21-15, 21-16.
DENMARK OPEN 2024
ALL FINALS
RESULTS
MIXED DOUBLES: Feng Yan Zhe-Huang Dong Ping (CHN) bt Jiang Zhen Bang-Wei Ya Xin (CHN) 15-21, 21-18, 21-17
WOMEN’S SINGLES: Wang Zhi Yi (CHN) bt An Se Young (KOR) 21-10, 21-12-21
WOMEN’S DOUBLES: Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi (JPN) bt Liu Sheng Shu-Tan Ning (CHN) 21-18, 21-14
MEN’S SINGLES: Anders Antonsen (DEN) bt Koki Watanabe (JPN) 21-15, 21-16
MEN’S DOUBLES: Liang Wei Kang-Wang Chang (CHN) bt Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (DEN) 21-18, 21-17
ENDS
