Lee Chong Wei lifts men's title at India Open

NEW DELHI: Malaysia's world No.1 Lee Chong Wei bagged his second India Open Super Series title on Sunday, but it was the little-known Japanese Kenichi Tago who impressed more in a keenly-fought final.
Lee Chong was expected to win with ease, but Tago made the 13th encounter between the two an interesting one by coming up with an inspired show. The Malaysian won 21-15, 18-21, 21-17 to make the head-to-head record 13-0 in his favour.
Earlier, world No.6 Ratchanok Intanon continued her recent domination of world No.4 Juliane Schenk of Germany with a 22-20, 21-14 win in the women's final. It was the Thai girl's first Super Series title.
Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia claimed the mixed doubles title by beating the Korean duo of Sung Hyun Ko and Ha Na Kim 21-16, 21-13.
The women's doubles honours went to the Japanese pair of Miyuki Maeda and Satoko Suetsuna, who came from behind to beat Denmark's Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl 12-21, 23-21, 21-18. China's Xiaolong Liu and Zihan Qiu were the men's doubles champion with a 22-20, 21-18 win over Korea's Sung Hyun Ko and Yong Dae Lee.
Lee Chong combined his deadly smashes with some clever net play to take the first game easily, making clear his intentions of wrapping up the match as quickly as possible.
But Tago did not let his senior rival run away with it. He upped his game considerably to take the match to the decider. His domination in the second game was such that after taking a 3-0 lead, he never allowed Lee Chong to overtake him. The third game was a cat-and-mouse affair with Lee Chong going ahead with some quick points only to see Tago eating into his lead.
However at 17-16, Lee Chong's last burst made sure there was no upset.
“I always lose the second game,” the Malaysian joked after the match. But he, on a serious note, praised Tago. “Tago did very well. I have played him a lot of time in the past. But this time he gave me a tough time,” he said while dedicating his win to his son who was born earlier this month. “I am happy with my performance. Last time I had lost here. This time the crowd support was very good.”
Interestingly, this was only the third time that world No. 9 Tago has stretched his famed rival to the decider in the 13 encounters so far.
In the women's singles final, Ratchanok came close to losing the plot before regrouping to win against her higher-ranked opponent. Ratchanok was looking all set to take the first game comfortably as she cruised to 20-13. But a lapse in concentration allowed Schenk to level the score.
That was a wake-up call as the Thai made quick points to take the game. “It was my first Super Series final and I was very excited. I wanted to finish the game quickly. I guess that's where I made the mistake,” she said through an interpreter.
After early exchanges of points, she wrapped up the second game and the match in 44 minutes. This was Ratchanok's sixth straight win in nine encounters between the two.