Viktor Axelsen, Tai Tzu Ying win Indonesia Open titles as BWF World Tour expansion revealed
- Axelsen triumphs in men’s singles, digging deep after ‘crazy’ semi-final to follow up his Indonesia Masters win a week earlier, while Tai takes women’s crown
- Prize money boost for players as Badminton World Federation reveals extra four events to be added to calendar in 2023
Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen and Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan won the men’s and women’s singles titles in contrasting fashion at the Indonesia Open on Sunday.
Axelsen beat Zhao Jun Peng of China in a final that proved considerably more straightforward for the Dane than his semi-final against Lee Zii Jia had been.
After emerging a 19-21, 21-11, 23-21 victor in that last-four battle with the Malaysian, he told the BWF World Tour website it was “one of the craziest matches I’ve been in”.
The final was plain sailing by comparison, going the world No 1’s way 21-9, 21-10 and giving him his 27th win in a row, a week after he lifted the Indonesia Masters crown.
“It’s not easy to play at this level on consecutive weeks, so I’m happy about that,” he told the BWF site.
“For sure I had to dig really deep [in the semi-final]. Lee Zii Jia played an amazing match and it was an intense encounter. I’m really happy I pulled through and also won the final today, because I did use a lot of energy yesterday.”
