Denmark's Joachim Fischer and Christinna Pedersen (pictured) beat home favourites Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying 21-13, 21-18 in the Malaysia Open mixed doubles final today to take the prestigious crown of the 400.000 US Dollars donated Superseries event.

Both pairs started off strongly in the first game, but it always seemed that the Danes had the upper hand when they broke free from a 7-6 lead, to walk out into the first interval five points ahead at 11-6. Fischer and Pedersen, who had a height advantage, remained cool despite the massive home support, and quickly widened the gap to lead 15-9.

Peng Soon and Liu Ying, who won the Japan Open Superseries in September last year, staged a brave comeback, narrowing the gap to 13-16, but that was the last point of the game for the Malaysian pair, who paid the price for bad judgment and mistakes.

The second game started on a similar note, with the points tied at 5-5 before the Danes broke away once again to lead 11-7 at the interval.

The crowd at Putra Stadium raised the noise level, and once again the Malaysian pair narrowed the gap to 18-19 but there was nothing much that could be done to prevent Joachim and Christinna, from winning the US$31,600 prize money as they rallied on to wrap up the match in 43 minutes.

“I am very happy with our win. Playing against the home pair, we knew it would be tough. We knew we had to be well prepared or we would not stand a chance at all,” said 27-year-old Pedersen.

“I was sick and lost in the women’s doubles quarterfinals. But I made it to the final for the mixed doubles and I just went all out. I pushed my body even though I lack of energy because I did not want to waste our chance.”

“We did not come here with much expectations, because we are not in the best of form. We have lost some speed and energy due to the tight tournament schedules", said Joachim Fischer.

Pedersen, who has not been feeling well for the past two weeks, said the fans in Malaysia are great and that is one of the reasons they keep coming back to Malaysia.

“We gave the tournament a miss last year, as Joachim was injured. The year before, we were knocked out in the semifinals,” said Pedersen, who won the women’s doubles title last year with Kamilla Rytter Juhl.

“The crowd here is just fantastic, they have been backing us and we love it, we just love playing here in Malaysia.”

Recent European victories at the Malaysia Open:

2013 Joachim Fischer/Christinna Pedersen (DEN)
2012 Kamilla Rytter Juhl/Christinna Pedersen (DEN)
2009 Tine Baun (DEN)
2008 Tine Baun (DEN)
2007 Peter Gade (DEN)
2002 Nathan Robertson/Gail Emms (ENG)

Article by Fabian Peter, Photo (LIVE) by BadmintonPhoto.