Boonsak wins Singapore Open for second time
Thai ace Boonsak Ponsana claimed his second Singapore Open men’s singles title on Sunday after beating China’s Wang Zhengming in a hard-fought final.
The 30-year-old, whose world ranking has fallen from fourth in November 2010 to 32nd, beat Wang 21-18, 21-19 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, in a boost for the Thai ahead of the London Olympics.
Boonsak made a sluggish start and trailed former World Junior champion Wang 10-5 early on but he came back to win 10 of the next 12 points and claim the opening game in 25 minutes. The second game was tight and Wang appeared to have the edge after taking a 19-18 lead.
But the Chinese player smashed a shot wide on match point, leaving Boonsak to claim the final three points of the game and secure the title. The Thai first won the Singapore Open in 2007. Boonsak will compete at the upcoming Olympics in London although a number of the world’s leading players opted to skip the Singapore Open as it falls outside the Games qualifying period.
Second seed Juliane Schenk of Germany took the women’s singles title with a straight sets win over fourth seed Cheng Shao-chieh of Taiwan. Schenk won the opening game 21-11 but the world number six had to battle back in the second game when Cheng reeled off nine straight points to take a 19-15 lead.
However, the German fended off three game points to force deuce before she finally took the game and match 26-24.
In the men’s doubles, Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia beat South Korea’s Ko Sung-Hyun and Yoo Yeon-Seong 22-20, 11-21, 21-6 while Bao Yixin and Zhong Qianxin of China won the women’s doubles with a 21-12, 21-17 victory over Taiwan’s Cheng Wen-hsing and Chien Yu-chin.
The mixed double title went to Taiwanese pair Chen Hung-ling and Cheng Wen-hsing who downed Shintaro Ikeda and Reiko Shiota of Japan 21-17, 21-11.
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