Chinese players made an impressive campaign in the Hong Kong Open, reaching the finals in all five events with the Women’s Singles and Mixed Doubles both all-China finals. They had the chance of a clean sweep of all titles, repeating what they accomplished in 2012.
In the women’s final, favourite Wang had an absolute advantage in her head-to-head against defending champion Han with a 10-3 lead. The first game saw Wang in full control. Although the score was once levelled at 8-all, Wang was never afraid of losing it, extending her lead to 19-12 before sealing off the opponent. Han threw everything into the second game and seemed to have regained her winning touch. She was leading 11-8 in the half-way mark before extending it to 20-17 with three game points on hands. But Wang was able to hang in there with solid defence which she turned it to fierce attack by taking four points in a row to regain the lead 21-20 after deuce before making it 24-22 for the victory.
Wang was so happy to win her first Hong Kong Open title, saying the result was an accumulation of her confidence. “I mentioned after the semi-finals that the match against a teammate in the final would be a tough game. I am really happy to be the champion and would also like to thank the fans for backing me. The atmosphere here this week has been fantastic.” When asked why she did not make great celebrations after winning the match but only knelt down on the floor, Wang said, “I am on the period and therefore has been struggling to hit my best form. By kneeling down, I was trying to release all the pressure and pacified my emotions.”
Wang, who left for the China Masters in Shenzhen after her victory, hoped she would also have a good result when the tournament begins on Tuesday (Sep 16).
Losing finalist Han Yue felt sorry for the result as she failed to defend her title, although she would take the result whether she won or lost as “silver medal is not too bad”. She said, “The second game was a bit sorry as I once had a 3-point lead before the opponent came back to level it. At that stage, I was a bit eager to win which affected my shot and made more unforced errors.” Still, Han thanked the fans for their support, especially for the semi-finals which she would not have won without the fans cheering for her.
In the Men’s Doubles, sixth seeds Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang of China took on India pair of Satwikairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, the eighth seeds in the final. The Mainlanders led a better 9-3 head-to-head before the match but they lost to the Indians when the two pairs last met in the round-of-16 match at the recent World Championships.
n the final, they suffered an early setback as the Indians took the first game 21-19 but came back strongly to win the next two 21-14, 21-17 for a sweet revenge of their World Championships defeat. It was also the first Men’s Doubles title for China in 13 years in the Hong Kong Open since the success of Cai Yun and Fu Hai Feng in 2012.
The champions said they felt like a stranger to the title as they had not won anything for almost a year. “The result is a great encouragement which also reminded our success over the same Indian pair in the 2023 China Masters in Shenzhen when we beat them in three games in the final.”
The winners also said they felt like playing at home for the support of the fans who cheered for them in Cantonese as Liang is a Guangdong native. The champions cherished the victory as they laid down on the floor to celebrate. “We haven’t won anything for a long time and therefore haven’t laid down for a long time to celebrate. It’s just wonderful.”
