They had lost in the early rounds in their previous three visits to the Singapore Open. This year they finally got what they wished for when they conquered their “nemesis” from Malaysia, Choong Tan Fook/Lee Wan Wah, 16-21, 24-22, 21-18.

Serla Rusli, Badzine Correspondent live in Singapore

The match was really a final showdown, a thrilling three-setter which lasted for 69 minutes, the longest match of the day. “The Malaysians played really well in the beginning. They kept giving us pressure,” Fu Haifeng said.

The match was full of amazing comebacks from Fu/Cai who trailed the Malaysians in the second set, but managed to keep up with the pace of the game in the second. Like yesterday, Fu/Cai secured the first game point in the second set, but the Malaysians managed to snatch it away from them and secured for themselves two championship points.

“Yet, we just refused to give up. When we were behind them, we just took one point at a time. We tried to exploit their weaknesses at the crucial times of the game, and in the end we were able to win the second game,” explained Fu, who was more talkative during today’s interview compared to yesterday.

“Winning this tournament is a very good start for us. It forms a very good basis for the next tournaments. We hope from this point onwards we can perform even better,” said Cai Yun, who, with his partner Fu Haifeng, displayed brilliant attacking and defensive skills against Choong/Lee.

The world No. 1 will continue their journey in the Super Series in the Indonesia Open next week, which will be held in Jakarta.

Mixed Doubles and Women’s Doubles Champions

Indonesia’s Flandy Limpele/Vita Marissa beat Sudket Prapakamol/Saralee Thungthongkam in less than half an hour to win the mixed doubles title, 21-14, 21-13. “We felt much more confident after beating Nova/Lilyana, our toughest opponents in the tournament, in yesterday’s match. Moreover, Saralee is currently injured so we had a huge advantage over them,” Vita said.

“We’re still very happy with our results in this tournament because we

actually expected to lose in the first round. To even reach the finals is definitely a bonus for us,” commented Sudket, the ever-smiling Thai.

Wei Yili/Zhang Yawen (pictured) won the women’s doubles title in an all-Chinese final today against Yang Wei/Zhao Ting Ting in three sets, 10-21, 21-19, 21-18.