World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei played one of his best matches this season to prove a point and he achieved it with victory over Lin Dan of China to lift the Japan Open title in Tokyo last Sunday.
Chong Wei battled for 80 minutes – his longest match thus far this season – to carve out a 22-20, 16-21, 21-17 win against his archrival in a high-quality final to win the title for a second time after 2007.
His success prevented China from making a clean sweep of titles for a third consecutive time this season in international tournaments after the world championships in Paris last month and in the China Masters last week.
It was the first time that Chong Wei had lived up to his status as the world No. 1 in a tournament featuring Lin Dan.
And to make it even more memorable, the win yesterday took Chong Wei to equalling his previous season’s best of seven Open titles.
Chong Wei was happy to take down the three-time world champion after his failure to do so for more than a year.
“I finally nailed him after a long time. This is a big relief,” said Chong Wei in a telephone interview.
Chong Wei last defeated Lin Dan at the Swiss Open in March last year and he now has a 7-15 head-to-head- record against the Chinese superstar.
“I have put in a lot of effort by reading and analysing his game since the horrible defeat by him in the Thomas Cup Finals (in May). Today, I changed my style of play and it worked well for me,” he said.
“I will not be too wrong to say that this is the best match of the year for me. It is not easy to stay there on court for 80 minutes – giving one’s best in every rally. I am totally happy that my fitness saw me through.”
I still have the same comments, that is our Datuk Lee need to do this consistently. Anyhow, congrats to him, it's not an easy game both physically and mentally.
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