Axelsen claims YONEX German Open title
Double Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen claimed his maiden YONEX German Open title with victory over Kean Yew Loh.
The top two seeds in the men’s singles draw lived up to their pre-tournament billing by reaching the final, and two-time YONEX All England champion Axelsen came out on top 21-19 21-18 to take victory.
It capped a fine tournament for the Dane, who was forced to battle to get his hands on the trophy from the very start.
Axelsen bounced back from losing the opening game against Riku Hatano to win 20-22 21-16 21-9 in the round of 32 before getting past Alwi Farhan and Jason Gunawan to set up a mouthwatering semi-final tie with Toma Junior Popov.
Third seed Popov forced the contest to a decider before eventually losing 21-19 17-21 21-17 before Axelsen made no mistake in the final.
The women’s singles title also went to the top seed as Singapore’s Jia Min Yeo beat Thuy Linh Nguyen of Vietnam 21-16 21-17.
Yeo, who exited in the first round of last year’s YONEX All England, will arrive in Birmingham in fine form this time around having breezed her way through the competition in Germany.
The Singaporean dropped just one game in the whole tournament, beating fourth seed Mia Blichfeldt 21-19 22-20 in the last four before also beating Nguyen in two games in the final.
The men’s doubles title went to Won Ho Kim and Seung Jae So, who beat Christo and Toma Junior Popov 21-19 21-17 in the final.
The Korean pair completed a tough run to get to the final, beating third seeds Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap 21-16 21-16 in the quarter-finals before getting past top seeds Ben Lane and Sean Vendy 21-14 21-19 in the last four.
The women’s doubles title went to Mizuki Otake and Miyu Takahashi, as the Japanese pair beat Bulgarian top seeds Gabriela and Stefanu Stoeva 21-17 20-22 21-12 in the final.
The mixed doubles title went the way of unseeded pair Robin Tabeling and Alexandra Boeje, who beat Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto and Gloria Emmanuelle Widjaja 21-17 21-12 in the final.
Tabeling reached the last four of the 2024 YONEX All England mixed doubles alongside Selena Piek and will have eyes on improving on that feat with new partner Boeje, who reached the second round with Mathias Christiansen in 2024.
