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World champions Nova, Lilyana triumph at Singapore Open
The world No
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The world No. 1 mixed doubles team of Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir came back from a game down to win the Singapore Open badminton championship Sunday.
The Indonesian pair defeated Anthony Clark and Donna Kellogg of England 17-21, 21-14, 21-19 to bring home Indonesia's only title.
Indonesia's hopes of winning a second were dashed when Simon Santoso lost to world No. 2 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia.
"We were too far behind to catch up with them in the opening game," Lilyana said as quoted by Antara.
She said Kellogg's fast game gave them difficulties in the first game before they changed tactics in the second game.
"With me in the front, I tried to play faster than her so that they were carried away by our rhythm," Lilyana said.
In the third game, the English pair, who beat the Indonesians in the Swiss Super Series, were under tense pressure so they could not develop their game.
The Singapore Open is the fifth tournament in this year's 12-event Super Series due to culminate with finals in December.
It is the first title for Nova and Lilyana, who were runners-up at the All England in March, in the series this year.
In the men's singles final, Lee Chong Wei swept aside sixth seeded Simon 21-13 21-5.
Lee, who is top seed in the absence of world champion Lin Dan of China and Olympic gold medalist Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia, took just 29 minutes to secure victory in what Reuters called a one-sided match.
"Today Lee Chong Wei played really well while I made a flurry of unforced errors," Antara quoted Simon as saying.
He said he ran to every corner of the court, but "I could not find the headway to break through".
The victory proved a good omen for the Malaysian ahead of the Olympics in August.
"I came here just to feel the competitive atmosphere before the Olympics. This is my last tournament before the Olympics," Lee said.
Lin, who will be a strong favorite for the Olympics, is resting after helping China defend the Thomas Cup last month, but Taufik will be back in action for the Indonesian Open starting Tuesday.
The women's singles title was won by Denmark's All England champion Tine Rasmussen, who defeated Hong Kong's Zhou Mi 21-19 21-17.
