Lee Zii Jia falters in Denmark Open final, losing to Shi Yuqi
LEE Zii Jia could not add a second BWF World Tour title win this year, as he lost to China's former world No.2 Shi Yuqi in the Denmark Open final on Sunday (23 October).
The Malaysian world No.3 fought back from a game down to push the match into a decisive third game, but had no answer to Shi's dominance in the end as he was beaten 18-21, 21-16, 12-21 after a 64-minute battle.
Shi - who returned to action in August's BWF World Championships after serving a 10-month ban for unsportsmanlike behaviour and is currently ranked world No.44 - claimed his first World Tour title in three years after leading all through the third game, opening up a massive 14-5 lead before easing home.
For Lee, May's Thailand Open remains the only World Tour title he has won this year. He had also claimed the Asian Badminton Championships men's singles title in in May.
Besides Shi, China shuttlers swept three of the remaining four titles at the Denmark Open.
In the all-Chinese women's singles final, world No.9 He Bingjiao stunned her higher-ranked compatriot Chen Yufei, defeating the world No.4 22-20, 12-21, 21-10 in 67 minutes for her third World Tour title this year, following triumphs in the German Open and Korean Masters.
The mixed doubles final was also an all-Chinese affair, and it was the world No.3 pair of Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong who narrowly defeated unheralded duo Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping 21-19, 20-22, 21-19 in 68 minutes.
In the women's doubles final, China's world No.2 duo Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan easily beat South Korea's Baek Ha-na and Lee Soo-he 21-21, 21-15 in 40 minutes.
The men's doubles final feature two Indonesian pairs, and it was the world No.6 duo Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto who bested world No.3 duo Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo 21-19, 28-26 in 47 minutes.
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