Axelsen, Marin claim singles titles at Japan Open

Denmark's reigning world champion Viktor Axelsen and 2016 Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain clinched the men's and women's singles titles respectively at the $325,000 Japan Open Superseries badminton championships here on Sunday.

Third seeded 23-year-old Axelsen fought past Malaysian veteran and three-time Olympic silver medallist Lee Chong Wei 21-14, 19-21, 21-14 in an hour and 15 minutes.

This was the 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Axelsen's second Superseries title of 2017. With this win, Axelsen improved his head-to-head record against Chong Wei to 2-9.

Two-time world champion Marin moved past defending champion He Bingjiao of China 23-21, 21-12 in 53 minutes at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.

This was Marin's first Superseries title of 2017 after three runner-up finishes in India, Singapore and Malaysia.

Moreover, Marin has taken a 2-0 lead in career meetings against Bingjiao.

The men's doubles title went to Indonesian third seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, who eased past Japan's Takuto Inoue and Yuki Kaneko 21-12, 21-15 in 29 minutes.

In the women's doubles final, Japanese top seeds Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi lived upto the hype as they got the better of South Korean unseeded pair of Kim Ha Na and Hee Yong Kong with a 21-18, 21-16 victory in 56 minutes.

Chinese mixed doubles pair of Wang Yilv and Huang Dongpin took only 33 minutes to defeat Japanese qualifiers Takuro Hoki and Sayaka Hirota 21-13, 21-8.

--IANS

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