In the much awaited men’s singles final, former world no.1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia decimated the challenge of world no.10 Tian Houwei of China in a 49-minute match. During Lee’s fantastic run in 2013, Tian was the one player, who had defeated him. Therefore, one expected the Chinese to bother the Malaysian. But Lee was simply brilliant on Sunday as he destroyed Tian’s defense with an array of smashes and accurate drop shots. The Malaysian didn’t even need to bring out his entire armory of strokes against the Chinese and instead chose an easy route by making Tian run on the court to retrieve his shots and destroyed his defense by delicate net-play. Tian withered under the Malaysian’s relentless assault and lost 16-21, 15-21 in 49 minutes. Despite his two victories in one week, Lee failed to make the grade for next month’s season-ending finals at Dubai.
The women’s singles final between world champion Carolina Marin of Spain and Nozomi Okuhara of Japan proved to be a near-classic. After taking the first game 21-17, Marin was given the taste of her own medicine in the second by the Japanese, who forced the decider by winning at 21-18. The third game was the battle of wits despite Marin leading 20-14 at one stage. With six match points for her, Marin smiled to indicate that the end was near. But Okuhara was not finished. The Japanese nullified one match point after another and suddenly Marin smile was gone. Facing a possibility of being upstaged, the Spaniard managed to collect herself despite being served a warning by the chair umpire for an inordinate delay in sending down her service. At 20-20, Marin began playing a percentage game and waited for Okuhara to commit mistakes. When Okuhara’s smash struck the net, Marin earned her seventh match point. It was now or never for the Spaniard, who stayed focused and converted the opportunity to emerge winner at 21-17, 18-21, 22-20. It was the fifth Super-series title for the Spaniard this year and sixth overall.
In mixed doubles final, China’s top seeds Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei won their sixth World Super-series crown by defeating compatriots Liu Cheng/Bao Yixin. After Nan/Yunlei won the first game 21-17, Liu/Bao came back to nullify the advantage by taking the second 21-17. In the decider, the top seeds held firm and finished with a 21-17,17-21, 21-17 victory to take their second successive Super-series title. In women’s doubles, Olympic Champion and no.5 seeds Zhao Yunlei and Tian Qing avenged their China Super-series loss against compatriots Yu Yang and Tang Yuanting and won the Hong Kong Open with a 39-minute 21-15, 21-12 victory. The men’s doubles crown at HK Open was won by the world no.1 and top seeded Korean team of Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong, who defeated the Danish combo of Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen 21-7, 18-21, 21-18.