It was finals day at the 2012 Yonex Australian Badminton Open, and it was China’s day, taking three of the five titles, men’s and women’s singles, and women’s doubles.

The Seeds & Key Match Ups

XD: Hung Ling Chen/ Wen Hsing Cheng (2) (TPE) vs Peng Soon Chan /Liu Ying Goh (MAS)

Mixed doubles lasting 63 minutes was the longest match of the day and one between equals. It was a frighteningly close dash to the finish line, but it was the big match experienced (Japan Open Super Series) winners from Chinese Taipei, Chen Hung Ling/ Cheng Wen Hsing who prevailed, 22-20, 12-21, 23-21.

The Malaysians were keenly aware of their opponent's quality despite holding a small lead by the opening set interval. They had been forcing both individuals of their opposition into errors of touch. The players from Chinese Taipei made a late bid for the first set once they had dusted off the cobwebs, with Cheng Wen Hsing's unmovable defence key to maintaining stability.

Returning on the other side of the court, Chan and Liu created a four-point buffer again. Just as their opponents had a modicum of luck at the end of the first set, this time it was the Malaysians with the fluke net shot by Goh at 19-12, that put them out of reach.

Chen Hung Ling made a difference in the third set by smashing harder. Controversy over a double hit which the umpire did not see and called as a let instead of awarding the point to the Malaysians kept scores tight. Each side suffered nerves at the deuce with Chen and Cheng regrouping the quickest to finally close out proceedings.

WS: Bae Youn Joo (5) (KOR) vs Han Li (CHN)

Unseeded Han Li of China who came through the qualifying rounds again defeated Korea's Bae Youn Joo for the second time in straight sets in eight months. This time, 21-13, 21-14.

Han was the dictator of play in both sets against Bae, who had been seen holding tissues and sneezing previous to the match. The first set was all one-way traffic to the Chinese player.

In the second set, Bae was made to cover the court and suffer at Han's weapon of choice, the drop shot. Bae began to implement her game but it was too late to stem the tide as well as she lacked smash power today to put away half courts half opportunities she had created for herself.

MD: Fang Chieh Min/ Lee Sheng Mu (3) (TPE) vs Markis Kido/ Hendra Setiawan (6) (INA)

The first set of the men’s doubles contained three players of average high quality, with only Hendra Setiawan feeling inspired. On several occasions Kido's flat smashes met the tape of the net and Fang was poor at fulfilling his responsibilities taking care of the net area.

As Kido began to find his jump smash at the rear, Fang and Lee continued to appear nonplussed about winning. Fang committed errors on smash returns that he was in position for and his short serves were relatively loose at the net too.

Lee Sheng Mu was focused but taking on the alertness of both Kido and Setiawan now would be too much and the match went to the Indonesians, 21-16, 21-15.

"Actually, we were expecting a more difficult match," Hendra remarked afterwards.

WD: Cheng Wen Hsing/ Chien Yu Chin (TPE) vs Luo Ying/ Luo Yu (CHN)

The more experienced ladies from Chinese Tapaei have beaten this young pair before as evidenced by the opening set score, 21-12.

Cheng and Chien kept the scores close in the second by using percentage play most of the way and not proactively going out to grab the lead as a way of resting Cheng, who had already played a long mixed doubles final. The Luo Chinese twins smashed continually, sure in the fact that although their opponents defend brilliantly that a few unforced errors would creep in and they were right. Luo and Luo claimed the second, 21-18.

The third set thrilled the audience as the rallies became even longer and flatter, thus more nerve wracking from the spectators. Chien was clearly trying brute power and it worked sometimes in conjunction with her experience to smash her third smash through the middle of the Chinese pair as it was left untaken.

The Luo twins stuck to their plan which finally earned an earlier break away and further caused Chien to give away a return of serve error, as well as her side gifting two more costly errors from trying to win rallies prematurely. China finished off the set 21-17 and won their second title of the day.

MS: Chen Jin (1) (CHN) vs Tien Minh Nguyen (4) (VIE)

World champion Chen Jin of China opened his account with a 5-1 lead. Very long rallies ensued but Vietnam's Tien Minh Nguyen could not unbalance Chen the way Simon Santoso is able to.

Gradually it became evident that Nguyen's "runner" style of play does not trouble Chen. With the predictability of shots he was witnessing, the Chinese implemented his muscly game plan earlier in the match than in previous days and it paid dividends with a 21-11 head start.

Although Nguyen was troubled by the Chen Jin's smash time and again, even when in position, there was a predictability to Chen's formula too, so the Vietnamese attempted to change his footwork down to third gear to get to all the shots earlier and won some of the rallies with drop shots. It was not enough as Chen is incredibly fit too and added the running style to his own muscle game. Without a bigger smash and Chen equaling his speed, Nguyen had no more weapons to make inroads and was overcome 21-12 in the second set.

Fastest Smash

The fastest smash recorded today was by men’s doubles champion and Beijing Olympic champion, Markis Kido of Indonesia, who registered a smash at 289 kph! He was firing these smashes constantly throughout the match, which ignited the crowd creating an electric atmosphere at the Sydney Exhibition and Convention Centre. Not bad for a man only 1.68 metres tall.

Next Up?

Next years Australian Badminton Open will be held in Sydney from April 2-7, 2013, so come and join us.

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