Tsuneyama scores a first for Japan in men’s singles of Thailand Open

Men’s singles: Kanta Tsuneyama ( Jpn) bt Tommy Sugiarto ( Ina) 21- 16, 13- 21, 21- 9.

Men’s doubles: Takeshi Kamura- Keigo Sonoda ( Jpn) bt Hiroyuki Endo- Yuta Watanabe ( Jpn) 21- 17, 21- 19.

Women’s singles: Nozomi Okuhara ( Jpn) bt P. V. Sindhu ( Ind) 21- 15, 21- 18.

Women’s doubles: Greysia Polii- Apriyani Rahayu ( Ina) bt Misaki Matsutomo- Ayaka Takahashi ( Jpn) 21- 13, 21- 10.

Mixed doubles: Hafiz Faizal- Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja ( Ina) bt Chris AdcockGabrielle Adcock ( Eng) 21- 12, 21- 12. PETALING JAYA: Kanta Tsuneyama emerged as the first Japanese men’s singles winner in the Thailand Open in Bangkok.

The world No. 33 Tsuneyama beat Tommy Sugiarto (pic) of Indonesia 2116, 1321, 219 in 58 minutes to deny the latter from completing a Thai double.

Tommy, the world No. 15, had earlier won the Thailand Masters in January.

For the 22yearold Tsuneyama, the Thailand Open triumph is his career’s best achievement having won the lower tier Canada Open and Austrian Open last year and the Finnish Open in 2016.

Japan also landed the men’s doubles and women’s singles titles through Takeshi KamuraKeigo Sonoda and reigning world champion Nozomi Okuhara.

Okuhara prevailed against India’s P.V. Sindhu 2115, 2118 in a rematch of last year’s World Championships final while SonodaKamura edged countrymen Hiroyuki EndoYuta Watanabe for the second time in as many finals by winning 2117, 2119.

The two pairs clashed in the final of the Malaysian Open two weeks ago.

Greysia PoliiApriyani Rahayu of Indonesia prevented the Japanese from claiming their fourth title of the day by outplaying Rio Olympic champions Misaki MatsutomoAyaka Takahashi 2113, 2110 in the women’s doubles.

Hafiz FaizalGloria Emanuelle Widjaja made it a double joy for the Indonesians with a 2112, 2112 victory over top seeds Chris AdcockGabrielle Adcock of England in the mixed doubles final.