PETALING JAYA: Denmark’s two-time Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen proved that he still has the hunger to win titles when he captured the men’s singles crown in the Hong Kong Open.
World No. 2 Axelsen, who was competing in his first tournament since successfully defending his gold in the Paris Olympics last month, was a class above as he swept aside China’s surprise finalist Lei Lanxi 21-9, 21-12 in 44 minutes in a one-sided final at the Hong Kong Coliseum in Kowloon yesterday.
The world No. 33 Chinese stunned Indonesia’s world No. 7 Jonatan Christie a day earlier to reach the final but had no answers to the powerful Dane.
Axelsen continued where he left off in the Olympics as he won all his matches in straight games to come away with the title.
The 30-year-old had claimed impressive victories over Taiwan’s world No. 9 Chou Tien-chen and Indonesia’s world No. 10 Anthony Ginting en route to the title.
Surprisingly, it was only Axelsen’s second World Tour title this year after he won the Malaysian Masters in May.
The Dane struggled with form and fitness earlier in the year but has silenced his doubters by superbly turning around his performances.
In the men’s doubles, South Korea’s reigning world champions Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae won their first title since the Indian Open in January after beating Indonesia’s Sabar Karyaman-Moh Reza 21-13, 21-17.
It was joy for Min-hyuk-Seung-jae, who finished runners-up twice in the back-to-back Japan and Korean Opens.
Meanwhile, China took home two titles through Han Yue in the women’s singles and Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin in the mixed doubles.
Han Yue defeated Indonesia’s Putri Kusuma 21-18, 21-7 to capture her first title this year while the impressive Zhenbang-Yaxin beat teammates Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping 21-17, 21-19 to claim their fourth crown of the year after also winning the Opens in Indonesia, Australia and Japan.
