Doubles delight for Puttita and Sapsiree
Busanan disappoints, Lin goes down to Loh
Puttita Supajirakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai claimed the women’s doubles title at the Princess Sirivannavari Thailand Masters yesterday. The unseeded Thais fought back to defeat fifth seeds Li Wenmei and Zheng Yu of China 15-21, 21-15, 21-10 in the final of the US$150,000 (approximately 4.9 million baht) World Tour Super 300 event yesterday. Bunsanan Ongbamrungphan, Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree failed to add to the medal after losing their women’s singles and mixed doubles deciders respectively. Thai players won three titles, including the women’s singles, women’s doubles and men’s doubles crowns last year — their best ever results in the tournament. “Thank you for the support, you guys really gave us a boost and helped us win today,” Puttita told the crowd at Indoor Stadium Hua Mark. Former champion Bunsanan failed to win her second title in three years after losing to Indonesia’s Fitriani Fitriani 12-21, 14-21 in the women’s singles final. The defeat ended a run of three consecutive wins by Thai players in the women’s singles event — Ratchanok Intanon (2016), Busanan (2017) and Nitchaon Jindapol (2018). Earlier in the second round, Fitriani had defeated defending champion Nitchaon. In the first final of the day, second seeds Dechapol and Sapsiree went down to top seeds and defending champions Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying of Malaysia 16-21, 15-21. Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew edged out Chinese legend Lin Dan in the men’s singles title match 21-19, 21-18. The men’s doubles crown went to Malaysian top seeds Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong, who beat fifth seeds Lu Ching Yao and Yang Po Han of Taiwan 21-13, 21-17.
RATCHANOK MEETS INDONESIAN
World No.8 Ratchanok will begin her season at the US$350,000 Malaysia Masters this week. The Thai, who is seeded sixth in Kuala Lumpur, will play Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in the first round. Nitchaon will have a tough assignment against fourth seed Carolina Marin of Spain, while Busanan will play fifth seed He Bingjiao of China in their respective openers.