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Chinese favourites claims three China Open titles

Chinese favourites claims three China Open titles

Shanghai (AFP) - China's top singles players Chen Long and Li Xuerui swept to victory Sunday for a second year at the Victor China Open championships, with women?s pairs Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang winning their third straight title.

Second-seeded men?s singles player Chen Long overcame a tough challenge from Wang Zhengming 19-21, 21-8, 21-14 to win his third China Open in four years. It is his third Super Series victory of the year.

"The next goal is to have a good performance at the World Championships," Chen said. "I want to do well at the Super Series tournaments but for me the big events are more important."

Wang is one of China?s emerging top prospects and opened strongly before succumbing to Chen. The two are good friends and Wang credits Chen for his improvement.

"My energy wasn?t strong enough to support my good performance," Wang said. "Chen has better control and gave me a lot of pressure."

"He is very good and helps me a lot with training and daily life. Without his help, I wouldn?t have improved so fast."

World?s number one women's singles player Li Xuerui also claimed a second straight China Open championship, winning five of the last six points to defeat compatriot Wang Shixian 16-21, 21-17, 21-19.

Li overcame a 12-6 deficit in the third set to claim the title.

"During the past month I haven't trained very well. For the China Open, I basically played with my teammates and Wang played quite well especially after winning the French Open, so I just wanted to catch up with her," Li said.

The tournament marks a return to title form for Li, who had disappointing finishes in the China Masters and French Open before succumbing to injury.

"It?s three years until the next Olympics and there will be many younger players coming to increase the challenge," the 22-year old said. "It is my duty to protect myself by reducing the risk of injury and training harder."

Top-seeded women?s doubles team Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang rolled over eighth-seeded Bao Yixin and Zhong Qianxin of China 21-13, 21-7 to claim their third straight China Open championship.

The win comes one year after their return to competition following an Olympic scandal for intentionally losing.

In men?s doubles, Korean duo Lee Yong-Dae and Yoo Yeon-Seong completed a dream tournament by defeating Malaysia's Thien How Hoon and Wee Kiong Tan 21-13, 21-12 to win the title.

Earlier in the tournament the Korean pair upset world champions and top-seeded pair Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia, third-seeded Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa of Japan and sixth-seeded Korean pair Kim Ki-Jung and Kim Sa-Rang.

In mixed doubles, second-seeded team Tontowi Ahmad and Lilyana Natsir of Indonesia overcame a top challenge from fourth-seeded Joachim Fischer and Christinna Pedersen of Denmark 21-10, 5-21, 21-17 to win their third Super Series of the year.