China harvests three titles at BWF French Open

PARIS - Chinese shuttlers bounced back from no title one year ago to claim the men's singles, men's doubles and mixed doubles titles at the 2018 BWF French Open here on Sunday.

In an all-Chinese men's singles final, Olympic champion Chen Long took out second-seeded Shi Yuqi in straight sets.

Shi conceded several turnovers in his smashes into the match. Chen led by five points late in the first game en route to his 21-17 win.

After the two shuttlers tied at 19-all, Chen took the initiative through a high-quality backcourt shot, before sealing his victory of 21-19 as Shi's return went outside.

"I'm quite happy. I didn't play that well this year, but it didn't affect my confidence in victory. Actually, I was more and more eager to win," Chen told Xinhua.

"He demonstrated his resistance today. We went head-to-head in the second game, which showed our desire to win this match," he added.

Han Chengkai and Zhou Haodong, both 20, shocked world No. 1 Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia 23-21, 8-21, 21-17 in men's doubles final to win their first ever BWF World Tour title.

"It means a lot to us. Now we have won the first, then we can expect our second, third in the future. It's a good start," Zhou said.

The young pair saved two game points at 20-18 down in the first game before triumphing 23-21.

However, their Indonesian opponents bounced back strongly in the following game by forcing a decider 21-8.

Han and Zhou steadied themselves in the decider to secure their title 21-17.

Top-ranked mixed pair Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong overcame South Korean Seo Seung Jae and Chae Yujung 21-19, 21-14.

After both pairs tied at 19-all, the Chinese duo snatched two points in a row following Seo's poor return.

The tussle continued into the second game at 7-all, before the world No 1 pulled away with four straight points and bagged their back-to-back titles after the Denmark Open last week.

It is the eighth title of the year for Zheng and Huang, including the BWF World Championships and Asian Games.

Women's singles final was played in a highlight manner between top two seeds, as Japan's Akane Yamaguchi overtook world No 1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei 22-20, 17-21, 21-13.

In women's doubles final, reigning world champions Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara of Japan beat Bulgarian sister duo of Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva 21-14, 21-19.

The French Open is one of five BWF World Tour Super 750 tournaments of the year, with a total prize pot of 750,000 US dollars.