Viktor Axelsen brought down the curtains on the event where his year-long stellar run began – the Dubai World Superseries Finals – with his fourth Superseries crown today.
The Dane outplayed Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei in an 84-minute long Men’s Singles final, 19-21 21-19 21-15.
Axelsen, younger and hungrier, wore down Lee. The Malaysian had his chances to take the match in the second, having erased a 14-19 deficit. Two mistakes at the critical point let him down.
Lee had been the more creative of the two, but Axelsen scrambled around and kept the points going, and his older opponent flagged with each lengthening rally.
No quick winners
The third game was all Axelsen’s; with both players unable to score quick smash winners, Lee opted for placement and high clears; he needed to convert the sudden openings, but the final touch deserted him. Axelsen refused to let his foot off the pedal, and there was an air of inevitability about the result early in the third even though Lee got to within a few points.
- In the second game he had a big lead, I got close but at 19-all I made a mistake on serve,” said Lee.
- Viktor played better – he is younger. He was fast and was attacking all the way. He was quite confident.
I play pretty well in Dubai
The champion, having completed his second victory in Dubai, could only marvel at his run of form:
- Amazing feeling. I feel pretty awesome, to be honest, especially after such an amazing game. It’s what you dream of when you start off playing badminton as a kid. After losing the first game I tried to put on the positive glasses, so to say. I knew I had to work hard and I did that. I’m proud that I kept my cool and could go all the way.
- I seem to play pretty well here in Dubai. The tournament has been pretty good. Winning here kickstarted it all for me, and to win two titles here was great.