Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik gave it their best shot but failed to match the high tempo and aggressiveness of Lee Yang-Wang Chi-lin as the Chinese Taipei pair overcame the Malaysian men's doubles duo in the Toyota Thailand Open final
Lee-Wang’s 21-13, 21-18 victory, clinched in only 36 minutes, was their second consecutive Thailand Open title in a week.
Last week, they beat Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong in a close contest to win the Yonex Thailand Open.
Hopes were high on Chia-Soh to finally dethrone the world number seven pair of their winning streak, but Lee-Wang set the tempo from the first set.
The Malaysians failed to get their strategy right in the opener, especially in their positional play as they left plenty of space for their opponents to exploit.
The duo trailed 1-6 and 11-19 before the Chinese Taipei pair eventually closed out the opener 21-13.
The second set was much more even as Chia-Soh fought back to level at 18-18.
But again, their opponents upped the tempo for the kill to clinch the title in straight games.
Soh admitted they were undone by Lee-Wang’s fiery display, with their relentless smashes and brilliant counter-attack returns.
“We were pressured from the start. They were stronger than us, and it was harder to find our attacking play. In the second game, we were more aggressive but they played well, pushing us into making errors,” he said.
Chia said finishing as runners-up has nonetheless boosted their confidence, which they will take to the backdated World Tour Finals which starts on Wednesday.
The women’s doubles saw an all-South Korean affair between Kim So-yeong-Kong Hee-yong and Lee So-hee-Shin Seung-chan.
Kim-Kong emerged victors with a 21-18, 21-19 victory over the third seeds in a 56-minute win.
Carolina Marin also won back-to-back Thailand Open titles, this time proving too hot for top seed Tai Tzu-ying to win 21-19, 21-17 and capture the women's singles crown.
