The 27-year-old scored a victory against Loh 21-13, 9-21, 21-13 in an intense 59-minute game in the badminton tournament held at the Bali International Convention Center & Westin Resort in  Nusa Dua, Badung regency, Bali.

Axelsen's victory came after his compatriot Anders Antonsen was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to an injury in his right chest.

In the men's doubles, hometown heroes Marcus Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukomuljo won the e after defeating Japan's Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi, who stunned them in the final of the Indonesia Masters a week earlier.

The world's number one, affectionately known by fans as the Minions, redeemed themselves from last week's defeat by beating the Japanese pair 21-14, 21-18 in a 38-minute game.

 

"The key to our victory is that we've learned from last week's defeat [...] we evaluated our mistakes and we fixed them," Gideon said after the match.

 

In the women's singles, South Korea's An Se-young secured the title after beating second-seeded Ratchanok Intanon from Thailand 21-17, 22-20.

The 19-year-old An also won the women's singles title at the Indonesia Masters last week.

"An was very solid and clever in using the opportunities presented," Intanon said after the match.

In the women's doubles, Indonesia's Olympics gold medalists Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu suffered defeat against Japan's Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida 19-21, 19-21.

Mixed doubles top seeds, Thai pair Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai, won the title after defeating their Japanese opponents Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino 21-12, 21-13.

The Indonesia Open took place on Nov. 23-28 and the season-ending BWF Tour finals run on Dec. 1 -5.

Tour badminton has been badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic, with recent games being the first tournaments in Asia in almost a year and taking place without fans in a COVID-19-secure bubble.