# Chong Wei gains sweet revenge over Chen Long for his defeat in world championships
# Chong Wei writes history in Fuzhou City
# Beats the top three seeds on his way to his maiden China Open title
# Malaysian’s 40th Superseries title
Fuzhou City in China will be long remember by former World No 1 Datuk Lee Chong rewrote badminton history in his fairy tale run which saw him clinch his maiden Thaihot China Open Superseries Premier title on Sunday.
In the 50 minute final against world No 1 and top seed Chen Long, the 33-year-old Malaysian outplayed the defending champion with a 21-15, 21-11 win, his 10th in 13 meetings.
The win in Fuzhou was also sweet revenge for the Malaysian’s defeat to Chen Long in the final in this year’s world championships in Jakarta on Aug 16.
Chen Long retained the world title with a 21-14, 21-17 win. However, at the Haixia Olympic Sports Center in Fuzhou City the Malaysian gave a dominating performance which often left the Chinese stunned.
In the first set Chong Wei was a dominating figure on the court – both in attack and defense He took the break at 11-6 but Chen Long looked made a brief fightback to catch up to 10-11 with four straight points.
Chong Wei, however, was not in the mood to give in and picked up steam with his sideline smashes and net play with deceptive shots and took the set 21-15 in 27 minutes.
It was the same in the second set as Chong Wei never allowed his opponent settle, going into the break at 11-8 and completed his dominance and romped home to take the set and match at 12-11.
It was his second back-to-back superseries title – having won the French Open in Paris last month, bringing his total to four titles since coming back to competitive badminton on May 1. He had earlier won the US Open and the Canada Open.
On his way to the China Open title Chong Wei, currently ranked No 9 in the world, pocketed USD52,500 in prize money.
But more importantly the unseeded 33-year-old Chong Wei toppled the top three seeds in the tournament – starting with second seed and world No 2 Jan Jorgensen of Denmark in the quarter-finals (21-11, 11-21, 21-10).
This was followed by his 17-21, 21-19, 21-19 win over third seed Lin Dan in the semi-finals – his toughest match in the tournament – which lasted 91 minutes.
The Chinese superstar, a five-time world champion and two-time Olympic champion, went into the match with the pyschological advantage of winning 25 of the 34 encounters against the Malaysian.
In the final the big smile on his face spoke of his satisfaction of having beaten Lin Dan and Chen Long on their home soil to clinch the elusive title after finishing runners-up in 2007 and 2008.
With his racquet in his left hand and a clenched right fist Chong Wei acknowledged his victory he enjoyed with his coach Tey Seu Bok.
His next stop is the Hong Kong Open which begins on Tuesday. This will be followed by the Macau Open.
Meanwhile in the women’s singles final Olympic champion Li Xuerui (6th seeded) toppled defending champion and top seed Saina Nehwal of India with a 21-12, 21-15 win in 39 minutes.
RESULTS (All Finals)
MEN
Singles
Lee Chong Wei (Mas) beat Chen Long (Chn) 21-15, 21-11
Doubles
Kim Ji-gung-Kim Sa-rang (Kor) beat Chai Biao-Hong Wei (Chn) 21-13, 21-19
WOMEN
Singles
Li Xuerui (Chn) beat Saina Nehwal (Ind) 21-12, 21-15
Doubles
Tang Yuanting-Yu Yang (Chn) beat Misaki Matsutomo-Ayaka Takahashi (Jpn) 21-13, 21-12
Mixed doubles
Zhang Nan-Zhao Yunlei (Chn) beat Joachim Fischer Nielsen-Christinna Pedersen (Den) 21-19, 17-21, 21-19
