World champions Seo Seung Jae and Kim Won Ho defeated Asian champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in the final 21-19, 21-15 to pocket the China Masters BWF Super-750 title in Shenzhen on Sunday. The high stakes final between world’s best defence and world’s top attacking pair ended in favour of the Koreans who succeeded in taming the aggressive Indians in the 45-minute contest. Seung also became the first player to win back-to-back China Open titles. The Indian pair failed to win a single title this year, losing their second final in a fortnight. It started well for Satwik-Chirag, who curbed their aggressive instincts and dominated the Koreans in the early net exchanges. Trailing 6-7, they raced ahead to 14-7 with a seven-point burst. Seung and Kim did not lose hope and tried to keep the shuttle as low as possible, mostly below the tape. They quickly scored five straight points and reduced the gap to 13-14. The game slowly slipped away from the Indians as the Koreans, particularly Seung, a master of finding gaps in rival court, was in great touch. The loss of the first game from an advantageous position rattled the Indians. In the second game, the Indians stayed close till 13-15. Thereafter, the world champions widened the gap before winning the second game at 21-15. Weng Hong Yang of China and An Se Young of South Korea won the men’s and women’s singles titles respectively. While Weng defeated Lin Chun Yi of Chinese Taipei 21-11, 21-15, An thrashed Han Yue of China 21-11, 21-3. China’s Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian bagged the women’s doubles title with a 21-19, 16-21, 21-13 victory over Kim Hye Jeong and Kong Hee Yong of Korea in the final.
