Se Young beats Li Xuerui to win New Zealand Open women’s singles title

Speed Post News Network

Patna : World No 78 Se Young AN, 17, South Korea, beat World No 15 Li Xuerui, 28, China, the 2012 London Olympic Games Gold Medallist, in straight games to clinch the women’s singles title at Barfoot & Thompson New Zealand Open at Eventfinda Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand, on May 5, 2019.

Se Young AN beat Li Xuerui 21-19, 21-15 in 43 minutes in the final to win the women’s singles title, her first BWF title. Se Young won 42 rallies in the match to 34 by Xuerui. Both the players won 4 consecutive points each in the match. It was the first meeting between the two players.  Li Xuerui had defeated top seed and World No 4 Akane Yamaguchi, 21, Japan, in the semi-finals. Li was runner-up at the World Championships in 2013 and 2014.

New Zealand Open is an HSBC BWF World Tour Super 300 category tournament. The winner of the tournament gets 7,000 points while the runner-up gets 5,950 points.