Malaysia Open: Axelsen defends crown

Kuala Lumpur, January 15

Tokyo Olympics champion Viktor Axelsen today retained his Malaysia Open Super 1000 men’s singles crown, while reigning world champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan clinched the women’s singles trophy.

It was Axelsen’s record ninth consecutive final in the Super 1000 tournaments and eighth in the top-tier level series. The Dane defended his title by beating Naraoka Kodai of Japan 21-6 21-15 in the final here at the Axiata Arena.

Carrying her scintillating form from 2022, Yamaguchi outplayed No. 2 seed An Se Young of South Korea 12-21 21-19 21-11 in the women’s final.

In the mixed doubles, world No. 1 pair of Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong got the better of Tokyo bronze medallists Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino of Japan 21-19 21-11 in 44 minutes.

The women’s doubles duo Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan trounced South Korea’s Baek Hana and Lee Yu Lim 21-16 21-10 in 52 minutes, while the new world No. 1 in the men’s doubles — Indonesia’s Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto — beat the Chinese combination of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang 21-18 18-21 21-13. — IANS