NEW DELHI: Shi Yuqi became the first Chinese player to win the India Open men's singles badminton title, defeating Chou Tien-chen in the final in New Delhi on Sunday.
Fourth-seed Shi overcame tough resistence from Chou, seeded third, to win the clash 21-18, 21-14 in 47 minutes.
Chou, who lost his second successive final in the BWF World Tour Super 500 tournament, took an early lead and had a four-point advantage at the mid-game break at 11-7.
But Shi fought back, getting nine points on the trot to win the first game in 24 minutes and carrying the momentum into the second game.
It was 21-year-old Shi's fourth major career title, after he won the France SuperSeries 2016 and two Grand Prix gold medals.
In the women's singles, Beiwen Zhang won a hard-fought battle against top-seed Pusarla Venkata Sindhu of India 21-18, 11-21, 22-20 in one hour and nine minutes.
It was fifth-seeded Zhang's first major world title as she survived a championship point at 19-21 to win the third and deciding game.
Sindhu, who won the 2017 India Open, came back fighting in the second game but fell to Zhang's aggressive play.
Earlier, the Indonesian pair of Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo won their fifth straight men's doubles title and third India Open after beating Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark.
Indonesia ruled in the women's doubles as well, with Greysia Polii and Apriani Rahayu defeating Thailand's Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai 21-18, 21-15.