HONG KONG, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- India's rising star Saina Nehwal surprised the crowd by toppling the China's newly crowned Asiad champion Wang Shixian to clinch the women's singles title of the Hong Kong Badminton Open here on Sunday while Malaysian world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei retained the men's singles title.
It was her third Super Series champion of the season, but was the only one snatched from the leading Chinese women. Nehwal, who reached the quarterfinals at the Beijing Olympics when she was 18 years old, admitted it was out of expectation that she could beat Wang Shixian.
"I still can't believe I won the match," said Nehwal after the ceremony. "The Chinese are very good, and Wang Shixian is in good form, winning the Asian Games, so I had little expectations. I thought it would be 50-50 (percent of winning), but I didn't expect to win."
However, when she flied to a 5-0 lead in the final set, she knew she might be able to make it.
"I was worried because she will be on the faster side in the third game, but lucky I got a big lead, so I just maintained this throughout," said the 20-year-old veteran.
"It was once close, but I took a big lead 19-16 again, so the confidence was always high, but it was important that I took a good lead." She added.
The 2nd seed of the event lost the first set 21-15 before she pushed the match to a final set by 21-16.
"I got a lot of confidence when I led with 11-5 in the second set," she said. "Finally the confidence really helped me to win the match."
It was the third time that Nehwal played Wang Shixian, only one month older. In the previous two contests, Nehwal won in the Junior World championships but lost in the World championships in Paris in August.
Talking about the top Chinese opponents, Nehwal said the Asian Games winner Wang Shixian and runner-up Wang Xin, relatively shorter, have good strokes, while Wang Lin and Wang Yihan, both much taller and stronger, got powerful smashes.
The men's singles final was more like a one-set competition as Indonesian veteran Taufik Hidayat almost gave up striving after losing the openning set 21-19. The top seed Lee Chong Wei claimed the sixth Super Series title of the season, a new record, by winning the second set 21-9.
The former record was held together by Chinese women Xie Xingfang and Wang Yihan, who both obtained five singles titles in a year out of 12 stages of Super Series in total.
The men's and mixed doubles finals were both breathtaking games. South Korea's young pair Ko Sung Hyun and Yoo Yeon Seong edged out Olympic champion Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan from Indonesia, 21-19, 14-21, 23-21, while Denish duo Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Christinna Pedersen overcame China's Asiad runner-up Zhang Nan/Zhao Yunlei, 22-20, 14-21, 22-20.
The women's doubles was the only trophy won by badminton powerhouse China. Olympic and World champion Yu Yang, 24, partnered with Wang Xiaoli, 21, eased past Chinese Taipei's top seed Cheng Wen-hsing/Chien Yu-chin, 21-11, 21-12 in 24 minutes to win their third Super Series title since the new pair started to compete internationally in the China Masters three months ago.
"New partner means a new start for me," said Yu. "I have never been satisfied with my achievements. I am expecting new breakthroughs. Now my goal is to be the Olympic champion once again in the 2012 Games with my new partner, and of course also the Sudirman Cup next year in China."