Chinese shuttlers win two titles at Thailand Open badminton

BANGKOK - Top seeded Chinese Chen Yufei clinched the women's singles title after beating sixth seed Ratchanok Intanon in straight games, while her compatriots Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping won the mixed doubles final at the BWF Thailand Open here on Sunday.

Chen was taken just one hour plus a minute to overcome the former world champion from Thailand, but the 22-20, 21-18 victory didn't come as easy as the scoreline showed.

The 21-year-old world No. 4 played to a slow start, trailing 2-5, 6-10 before claiming three points in a row to tie the game at 14-all and turning over the table to lead 19-16 with a 4-0 run.

Holding two game points on 20-18, Chen lost both but managed to find the rhythm again to win the first game 22-20.

Chen then opened the second game smoothly, leading 6-1, 18-15 before wrapping it up 21-18.

With the straight-game victory, Chen lifted the women's singles trophy without dropping a single game throughout the tournament.

In the previous mixed doubles final, Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping claimed another title-winning victory for China, rallying past Japanese Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino 24-22, 23-21 in 50 minutes.

The men's doubles final, however, saw world champions Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen of China go down to unseeded Indian pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty after losing 21-19, 28-21, 21-18.

Japanese badminton players continued their dominance in women's doubles as Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto beat Chinese duo Du Yue and Li Yinhui 21-19, 14-21, 21-13.

Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen was crowned in the men's singles with a thrilling 21-14, 11-21, 23-21 victory over NG Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong, China.