FUZHOU, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- China's Chen Yufei took the women's singles title and Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong collected their ninth mixed doubles crown of the season in the 2018 HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750 China Fuzhou Open here on Sunday.
The fourth-seeded Chen, 20, abandoned her slow heating-up tempo in the previous rounds and won two straight sets to beat the seven seed Nozomi Okuhara 21-10, 21-16 for her first-ever victory over the Japanese world champion.
It's the first time for China to win the women's singles of the tournament after Olympic champion Li Xuerui took the top honor three years ago.
"I beat two strong players, (Carolina) Marin in the semifinal and Okuhara in the final, whom I never won over before. That gave me much confidence and joy," said Chen, "she (Okuhara) made too many turnovers and I rushed ahead in the opener."
During the second set, Okuhara tried to speed up her tempo. "She is good at moving and I was well prepared for a tight fight. I tried to catch up every shot, seeking chances to strike back," said Chen.
In the mixed doubles, the world No. 2 pair Wang Yilyu/Huang Dongping failed to shake off the jinx against the No. 1 duo Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong, losing 21-15, 11-21, 21-19 in the all-Chinese final.
Zheng/Huang thus collected their ninth title of the season and their seventh straight win against their fellow Chinese peers.
"We had a good fight and our strategy did work," said Huang Dongping, "unfortunately we made mistakes earlier in the tight match. We know each other well and we are transparent to each other, especially in the crucial play."
Wang/Huang had been defeated 2-0 each time during their previous three meetings this season against Zheng/Huang. Fuzhou Open was their best shot to make the breakthrough as they fought into the third set, leading 19-17 in the final, but still failed to grab the win.
"We lost to them too many times, perhaps we lost the confidence to win," said Wang, "but we need to overcome it, getting closer to turn them down some day."
In the men's doubles final, the Chinese pair He Jiting/Tan Qiang were overturned 2-1 after winning the first set 27-25 against No. 1 duo Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo from Indonesia.
"The first set win gave us lots of confidence. They played fast over the net, and we fought back the same way. However, we didn't communicate well enough in the second set, which made us feel exhausted to play into their tempo," said Tan.
No. 1 Kento Momota of Japan won the men's singles title, beating fourth seed Chou Tien Chen from Chinese Taipei, 21-13, 11-21, 21-16.
Seventh-seeded Lee So Hee/Shin Seung Chan from South Korea snatched the women's doubles title, knocking down the fifth seeds Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara from Japan 23-21, 21-18.
