Anders Antonsen capped a momentous outing at the 2020 BWF World Tour Finals by finally stopping his in-form team-mate Viktor Axelsen in his tracks with a 21-16, 5-21, 21-17 victory in the men’s singles final on Sunday.
Axelsen came into this contest in full confidence having won back-to-back Thailand Open titles, and dominated all his opponents to win in straight sets en route to making a third consecutive final in three weeks.
But he was up against a gritty Antonsen who was eager to make up for last week’s dismal showing at the semi-finals of the Toyota Thailand Open.
It was the world number three who seized the advantage in the first set at 21-16, but Axelsen turned on the heat in the second set and Antonsen gave it up midway through to take it to a decider.
The reigning Denmark Open champion had led almost all the way, but when Axelsen leveled at 17-17, it seemed the lanky Dane was on the verge of bagging this title too.
But credit to Antonsen, who went on the offence and kept his cool to win and cap a memorable week.
HIGHLIGHTS | All Danish affair ?? where No.1 seed Viktor Axelsen and No.2 seed Anders Antonsen vie for top honour ?????? ?#HSBCbadminton #BWFWorldTourFinals pic.twitter.com/ltZKJqAhIb
— BWF (@bwfmedia) January 31, 2021
There was no final hurrah for Carolina Marin in the women's singles as well, with the Spaniard going down fighting to Tai Tzu-ying who triumphed 14-21, 21-8, 21-19 in a battle that lasted over an hour.
In doing so, the world number one avenged both the Thailand Open final defeats to Marin.
But there were two pairs who won all three titles in Bangkok.
In the men’s doubles, Chinese Taipei duo Lee Yang-Wang Chi-lin proved too hot for Indonesians Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan to win 21-17, 23-21 and capture their third title.
It was also an unforgettable three weeks for Thai mixed doubles pair Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai, who overcame South Koreans Seo Seung-jae-Chae-yujung 21-18, 8-21, 21-8.
The women’s doubles saw Lee So-hee-Shin Seung-chan win the all-South Korean final against Kim So-yeong-Kong Hee-yong 15-21, 26-24, 21-19.