India Open: World welcomes Kunlavut Vitidsarn, An Seyoung

New Delhi, January 22

Two youngsters — Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn and South Korea’s An Seyoung — put on scintillating shows to claim the men’s and women’s singles titles, respectively, after stunning two-time world champions Viktor Axelsen and Akane Yamaguchi in the finals of the Yonex-Sunrise India Open Super 750 tournament here today.

Vitidsarn, 21, notched up the biggest title of his career when he beat Tokyo Olympics champion Axelsen of Denmark 22-20 10-21 21-12 in 64 minutes, while Seyoung saw off world No. 1 Yamaguchi 15-21 21-16 21-12 to affirm her reputation of being one of the most exciting young talents in the world.

“From my earlier losses against Viktor, I had learnt that if I could engage him in long rallies and take the match to the decider then I have a chance to win. I could manage to do that today and even after losing the second game, I believed that I can win,” Vitidsarn said.

The Dane was the odds-on favourite to win as he came into the match with a 6-0 head-to-head record against Vitidsarn, including victories at the World Championships final and Denmark Open last year.

But Vitidsarn didn’t seem intimidated and stopped Axelsen from playing his natural attacking game. He didn’t give him the lofted clears and kept the shuttle flat and precise.

Earlier, Seyoung avenged her last week’s Malaysian Open final loss to Yamaguchi with yet another clinical performance in her maiden India Open appearance.

Yamaguchi was in complete control in the opening game but Seyoung turned the tables on her in the second to force the decider. The Japanese had the upper hand in the initial exchanges of the third game before the Korean managed to win eight of the nine points from 4-7 down.