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Okuhara triumphs as Son resurgent in HK
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Son Wan-ho won his first tournament in two years yesterday after the 30-year-old snatched the Hong Kong Open from Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto, whose teammate Nozomi Okuhara triumphed in the women’s finals.
The Korean sixth seed, who stunned Japanese world No. 1 Kento Momota in the semis, yielded 12 points in a row in the first game before finding his form to win 14-21, 21-17, 21-13 in 89 minutes.
Nishimoto kept up the energy but Son pulled away at 13-12 in the decider after the Japanese player knocked two shots into the net.
Son has now won five of the pair’s seven encounters this year for his first tournament victory since his December 2016 homeground win.
“I feel very happy... in the second game I felt my opponent was very tired, so I needed to work then to get through the tough part (of the match),” he said.
In the women’s finals, Okuhara said her victory over a determined Ratchanok Intanon was a massive confidence boost ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.
Both players were hungry for the win, drawing level 13 times in the second game before the sixth-ranked Okuhara beat the Thai, a former world champion, 21-19, 24-22 in 64 minutes.
Okuhara said she would spend the next year working to secure her place at the 2020 Olympics alongside world No. 2 Akane Yamaguchi, who Intanon beat in three games in the quarterfinals.
“I and Akane will get a gold medal,” she said. “Of course.”
This was Okuhara’s last tournament before next month’s World Tour finals in China.
Japanese players made all five finals, a feat Okuhara attributed to the determination of national head coach Park Joo-bong. “(He) has kept motivating us,” she said. “Every player wants to be very strong. They’re very hungry.”
In the women’s doubles, top-ranked Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota beat Korean challengers Lee So-hee and Shin Seung-chan 21-18, 21-17.
Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino won 21-18, 21-14 in 46 minutes over second-ranked Chinese Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping in the mixed doubles.
But top seeds and Asian Games gold medalists Marcus Gideon and Kevin Sukamuljo were too strong in the men’s, blitzing Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda 21-13, 21-12.
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