India Open: Thai Ratchanok clinches maiden Super Series title

New Delhi, April 28 (IANS) Thai girl Ratchanok Intanon, seeded third, clinched her maiden Super Series title at the $200,000 India Open by beating German second seed Juliane Schenk in the women's singles final at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here Sunday.

Ratchanok, who has reached Super Series finals twice before, in China Open and All England, won 22-20, 21-14 in 44 minutes against the German

It was Ratchanok's sixth consecutive meeting with the German. Ratchanok now leads the head-to-head 6-3.

It was heartbreak for Juliane, World No.4, who lost her consecutive second final here at the tier-two event. Last year, Juliane lost the final battle to Li Xuerui of China.

The German was dominating in the early stages of the first game leading 11-7 at the break. Juliane took injury time out to heal a cut on her hand after which she lost concentration and conceded eight straight points to Ratchanok (15-11).

The 18-year-old third seed pushed harder to reach matchpoint 20-17. But the German showed remarkable recovery to save seven game-points and level the match at 20-all. But the Thai found won the next two points to seal the game.

In the second game, Ratchanok completely outplayed her much experienced opponent to bag her first tier-two event.