Anders Antonsen topped off a memorable week in Shenzhen with a stellar performance in the final to take the Li-ning China Masters crown.
Antonsen began his first final on Chinese soil on the ‘good side’, allowing him to control the rallies well and secure the opening game 21-15. Swapping sides, Jonatan Christie knew what he needed to do and was able to set up short lifts from his opponent.
However, the Dane showed great resilience and graft to make Christie fight hard for his points, leading to errors. Antonsen sealed the title win 21-15, 21-13 and became the first European champion of the China Masters since Danes Jens Eriksen/ Martin Lundgaard Hansen back in 2006.
Antonsen seems to have rekindled his form from earlier in the year when he won the Malaysia Open and Indonesia Masters and reached the Indonesia Open final. He has now won back-to-back World Tour Super 750 tournaments, adding to last month’s Denmark Open.
Writing to his fans on Instagram, Antonsen simply put:
-Dream turned reality… Lucky to share the court with Jonatan Christie today! Congrats on the great run bro. Thanks for the amazing support everyone!
China gold
The pressure was on Feng Yan Zhe/ Huang Dong Ping to deliver the mixed doubles title to continue the long history of Chinese winners since the first edition in 2005.
They were facing the prospect of a tough loss dead in the eyes with their Malaysian opponents, Hoo Pang Ron/ Cheng Su Yin, winning the opening game 23-21, and then alarmingly for the home crowd, found a match point at 22-21 in the second game!
Feng/ Huang found a way to weather the storm and then rode the cheers of the fans to victory, 21-23, 25-23, 21-16. A thrilling final lasting 93 minutes!
In an all-Chinese women’s doubles final, Liu Sheng Shu/ Tan Ning asserted their dominance on the category with a 21-10, 21-10 win over Li Yi Jing/ Luo Xu Min.
Korean champions
While An Se Young, in her fifth final in a row, did the business against China’s Gao Fang Jie winning 21-12, 21-8, it was the Korean men’s doubles champions that will hit the headlines back home.
The new two left-hander combination of former world champion Seo Seung Jae and talented 21-year-old Jin Yong seems to be working very well indeed. In just their second tournament together they have won a major title.
Today, they faced the in-form Indonesian duo of Sabar Karyaman Gutama/ Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani. Seo/ Jin were disciplined yet creative in attack, and demonstrated some of the famed Korean defence of the past to win 21-16, 21-16. A pair to get excited about!