Saarbrucken: The second-seeded women’s singles player, Zhang Beiwen from the United States, added another BWF World Tour title to her collection by triumphing at the 2023 HYLO Open on Sunday.
Zhang was granted a day off after receiving a walkover from Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong in the semifinals. In the final, she started strong by taking the first game against Denmark’s Line Højmark Kjaersfeldt with a score of 21-18. However, after an 8-8 tie in the second game, Zhang appeared to momentarily lose her focus and conceded the game 16-21 to Kjaersfeldt.
Fortunately, Zhang regrouped and regained her momentum in the decider, securing the third set with a score of 21-16 and claiming her second title of the year.
This season, Zhang had reached four finals. She emerged victorious at the 2023 Australian Open by defeating Korea’s Kim Ga-Eun with a score of 20–22, 21–16, 21–8 but lost to Carolina Marin in the Orleans Masters final by a score of 23–25, 21–9, 10–21. She also fell to Tai Tzu-ying in the Taipei Open final with a score of 14-21, 17-21.
Highlights of Zhang Beiwen vs. Line Højmark Kjaersfeldt in the HYLO Open final:
In the men’s singles category, world No. 13 Chou Tien Chen made history by winning the most men’s singles titles in the history of the HYLO Open on Sunday. The 33-year-old Chou was the only men’s singles player to achieve three consecutive championships at the Bitburger Open (the previous name for HYLO Open) from 2012 to 2014. Despite reaching the final last year, he lost to the Indonesian star Anthony Ginting Sinisuka.
In the final on Sunday, Chou faced a tough challenge before defeating Hong Kong’s world No. 19 Lee Cheuk-Yiu with a score of 21-23, 21-17, 21-10, ending his championship drought of nearly 15 months. His last title was at the 2022 Chinese Taipei Open.
Meanwhile, 27-year-old Lee Cheuk-Yiu couldn’t end his four-year championship drought. His last championship victory dated back to the 2019 Hong Kong Open.
The men’s doubles final featured a rematch of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics final, with Olympic champions Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin from Taiwan facing Olympic silver medalist Liu Yu Chen. However, Liu Yu Chen’s partner during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Li Junhui, had retired from professional badminton, and now he plays alongside Ou Xuan Yi.
Liu and Ou emerged victorious with a score of 24-22, 21-13.
In the women’s doubles final, Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu of China claimed victory after their opponents, Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti of Indonesia, had to withdraw due to Rahayu’s right calf injury.
“Apriyani decided to withdraw from the final round of the HYLO Open 2023 because she suffered a right calf injury. This injury was sudden, not felt before,” said Eng Hian, the women’s doubles coach of Indonesia.
Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet from Hong Kong secured their first title since winning the 2019 Korea Masters by defeating Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto and Lisa Ayu Kusumawati of Indonesia with a score of 15-21, 21-15, 21-14 in the mixed doubles final.
