On the final day of the BWF World Tour Super 750 Denmark Open, the favourites in both the men's and women's singles emerged triumphant through highly efficient performances. Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying defeated Japan's Nozomi Okuhara 21-17, 21-14 while the latter's compatriot Kento Momota defeated China's Chen Long 21-14, 21-12 to secure the titles.
The day started with the women's singles final and a lot was expected from this clash between World no. 1 Tai and World Championship silver medalist Okuhara. The Taiwanese player started well and reeled off some of those exquisite shots that she is famous for, to gain an early lead. However, the Japanese girl fought back to be neck-and-neck at the mid-game interval.
Tai looked in great form. Apart from a display or her unmatched skills, like drop shots, she was also not committing the kind of errors that she is sometimes prone to. But Okuhara was in no mood to let her get away easily. She fought hard and kept herself in contention.
Throughout the match, the World no. 1 targeted the deep forehand corner of the former World Champion. Occasionally, Nozomi was able to respond with great smashes from that region. But after the interval in the first game, Tai started to extend the lead and eventually won it.
In the second game, the two competitors were again neck-and-neck. The tenacity and determination of Okuhara was on full display as she retrieved most of the shots that Tai through at her. But, the wizard from Taiwan, eventually, managed to use her large array of weapons to extend her lead and coast to an impressive victory.
The day ended with the World Champion Kento Momota taking on the reigning Olympic Champion Chen Long. Momota looked flawless at the beginning but then, Chen started to get into his groove and established an early lead. Momota, as is his usual style, soaked up the pressure from his opponent and, in the latter stages of the game, ran away thanks to his own solid play and the errors from the Chinese.
The second game was well controlled by Momota. By this time, the Japanese was dominating the net exchanges as well as playing some majestic shots. Though Chen tried to fight back with some good shots of his own, they were few and far between. By this time, the 2-time World Champion was sailing and finished the match easily.
