Jin Wei denied first senior title at Taiwan Open

KUALA LUMPUR: Former World Junior champion Goh Jin Wei failed to win her first senior title after going down 17-21, 17-21 to Japan’s Saena Kawakami in the Taiwan Open Grand Prix Gold women’s singles final at the Taipei Arena in Songshan, Taiwan yesterday.

The 17-year-old from Bukit Mertajam, Penang, however, put up a credible performance against her Japanese opponent, before losing the match that lasted 39 minutes.

The winning margin was certainly not a true reflection of the action on court since both players were fighting point for point in both sets, but a number of mistakes toward the end of the both sets saw Kawakami emerge victorious.

The first set was tied 16-16 before Kawakami raced away for a 19-16 lead, and eventually win 21-17, while the action in the second set was no different, and if fact Jin Wei was leading 10-6 in the second set before Kawakami clawed back to draw level at 10-10.

The 2015 World Junior champion once again allowed her opponent to earn easy points after a number of unforced errors to concede the second set by the same score.