Malaysia's world number one Lee Chong Wei stormed to victory in the Hong Kong Open on Sunday, whipping Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro in straight games to bag his sixth tournament of the season. Amid raucous support at the Hong Kong Coliseum, top-seeded Lee needed only 33 minutes to inflict a 21-13, 21-9 bruising on his three-time Asian champion opponent.
The victory means the 31-year-old goes into next month's Badminton World Federation (BWF) finals on home soil having won six of the Superseries' 12 rounds. Lee's dominant display against the Indonesian, which included 24 winning smashes, capped a superb tournament in which he did not drop a single game.
"I never thought I would do so well. It's a final. Sony has been doing well," Lee, who is feted in his homeland as a celebrity, told reporters after his match. "Six is my lucky number. I like number six," he joked, referring to his tournament wins this season. In the women's draw, China's Wang Yihan was made to toil hard for her 21-13, 16-21, 21-15 victory against compatriot Wang Shixian, in the day's longest match. The third-seed easily won the first game before Wang mounted a comeback in the second.
In the final, the two players took turns to lead until they were tied at 11-11, when the determined former world champion pulled ahead, increasing her lead before taking the match with a smash. She admitted, however, victory had not come easy. "I am not in my best shape. I had been satisfied for getting into the final," she told reporters after the match, adding though that her knee injury has been recovering well. In the mixed doubles, British newly-weds Chris Adcock and Gabrielle White beat China's Bao Yixin and Liu Cheng 21-14, 24-22, overcoming nerves in their prolonged second game.