China wins women's singles, doubles at BWF German Open

MULHEIM AN DER RUHR, Germany - China's He Bingjiao defeated Olympic champion and compatriot Chen Yufei 2-0 to claim the women's singles title, while Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan won the women's doubles title at BWF German Open here on Sunday.

"I had some lucky points in the second game and I was thinking of nothing else but tactics in the key points," He said of the 21-14, 27-25 battle.

"It's been many years since I won the title last time and it means a lot to me. Both of us have delivered fantastic play today. It was a very intensive match. I'm very happy to be able to defeat the Olympic champion," He added.

Absent from the World Championships last December, Chen Yufei said it was a good start at the German Open to get back on track.

"I was trying to adjust to the games after resting for a long while," said Chen. "Every game is a good chance to motivate myself and I hope to play better in the All England and Swiss Open."

Two-time world champions and top seeds Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan claimed the women's doubles title by edging Bulgarian sisters Gabriela and Stefani Stoeva 21-16, 29-30, 21-19 in a final lasting almost two hours.

"It's our first time to win the German Open and I'm so happy to win the title. It was tough today and the mentality is the most important thing. We were eager to win the match," said Jia.

"We've never experienced a single game like 30-29. The Bulgarian sisters have become much stronger than the last time we met at the Tokyo Olympics," said Chen.

The men's singles final was played between 20-year-old rising stars Lakshya Sen from India and Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand. The Thai talent took the victory in two straight games, 21-18, 21-15.

China's Ou Xuanyi played in both mixed doubles and men's doubles finals with new partners, losing both games.

28-year-old Ou and Olympic men's doubles silver winner Liu Yuchen were edged by Malaysian duo Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin 23-21, 16-21, 21-14 in the men's final.

Top seeded pair Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand claimed the mixed title by defeating Ou and Olympic silver medalist Huang Yaqiong 21-11, 21-9.

"Ou played much better than I expected. He needed to smash all the time from the back court but possibly ran out of his energy in both men's and mixed doubles," said Huang.