Kenta Nishimoto and Akane Yamaguchi gave the home crowd in Osaka a huge cheer when they claimed the Japan Open men’s and women’s singles title on Sunday, albeit doing so in contrasting fashion.

Nishimoto needed 92 minutes to overcome a resilient Chou Tien-chen 21-19, 21-23, 21-17 in a pulsating final on Sunday to secure his first career international title.

In the past, Japanese fans were so accustomed to witnessing Kento Momota hog the headlines in the men’s singles.

While Momota won this Super 750 event twice, Nishimoto’s best results came in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Germany and Thailand with runner-up finishes.

But as many of bigger names crashed out in the early rounds – Momota and Lee Zii Jia included – Nishimoto went on a gallant run and slayed the big guns on his way to the title.

The world number 21 overcame India’s Lakshya Sen in the first round, before eliminating Jonatan Christie, Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo and Anders Antonsen to reach the final.

He claimed the first game in rather nervous fashion after Chou battled back from 13-20 down, and then made a crucial service error to concede the second game.

But the 28-year-old stayed composed and his brilliant defence and net game took him across the finish line.

Akana Yamaguchi gave the audience a double lift when she bagged the women’s singles title after beating South Korea’s An Se-young 21-9, 21-15 for her second Japan Open title.

In the mixed doubles, Japan were denied a third title when second seeded Thais Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai beat Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino 16-21, 23-21, 21-18.

The men’s doubles saw China’s Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang also needing three games to take down Danish pair Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen 21-18, 21-13, 21-17.

The women's doubles saw South Koreans Jeong Na-Eun-Kim Hye-jeong beat their compatriots Baek Ha-na-Lee Yu-lim 23-21, 28-26.