Odense: It has been 7 and a half years since World No. 2 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark defeated World No. 1 Kento Momota at the 2014 German Open. The Tokyo Olympics men’s singles champion made amends in Odense in front of the home crowd on Sunday, with a convincing victory over Momota in a one-hour and 33 minutes battle.
Axelsen’s 20-22, 21-18, 21-12 triumph over the World No. 1 Japanese was another vivid demonstration of his excellence in the men’s singles event.
As for Momota, despite finishing second at Denmark Open, it’s clear that he was working his way back to his top form and was definitely moving in the right direction. During the Tokyo Olympics when he lost to South Korea’s Heo Kwang-Hee in straight sets during the group stage, Momota seemed to have trouble jumping high enough to launch his signature smashes. Even in the Sudirman Cup final against Shi Yuqi of China on Oct 3, 2021, Momota was barely smashing in the match. However, on Sunday’s final against Axelsen, Momota was able to return Axelsen’s power smashes with ease in the first game, and he was smashing with more confidence before losing his stamina and ultimately lost to Axelsen in the third set.
It’s going to be interesting to see whether Momota and Axelsen will set up another mouth-watering clash in the French Open final which is scheduled to kick off on Oct 26, 2021.
China’s Huang Dongping/Zheng Yu started the day of the Denmark Open finals by beating No. 2 seeds Lee Sohee/Shin Seungchan of Korea 21-15, 21-17 to win their first international title as a women’s doubles pair.
In the women’s singles final, after dropping first set 18-21 to Korea’s An Seyoung, Japan’s World No. 5 Akane Yamaguchi used everything she had to grind out a tough second-round win with 25-23, and won the Denmark Open title after she was leading 16-5 in the decider and An was forced to retire due to injury.
The unseeded Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi picked up Japan’s second title of the day when they saw off home favorites and No. 8 seeds Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen 21-18, 21-12 in 44 minutes.
Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino of Japan then clinched Japan’s third title on Sunday when they beat Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand in the mixed doubles final 21-18, 21-9.
