Viktor Axelsen thrashes Japan’s Kodai Naraoka to clinch the singles title at the Malaysian Open
Danish shuttler Viktor Axelsen successfully defended his singles title at the Malaysian Open 2023 after defeating Japan’s Kodai Naraoka 21-6, 21-15 in two straight games. The world number one needed only 40 minutes to secure the first trophy of the year.
Axelsen started the match with complete aggression, never allowing the opponent to settle. The tactic paid dividends for the Danish badminton player as he won the first game comfortably. Axelsen continued the strategy in the second game too. He kept up the pressure in the second game against a visibly exhausted opponent to clinch the win.
After the win, Axelsen was quoted as saying, “I just tried to play consistently at a high pace, and not give him many chances. If he wanted to win, he had to work really hard.” Axelsen appreciated Naraoka for the way he played in the final. He added, “I did feel tired coming into this game, but I still did my best. But he used his height well, and his smashes were too powerful for me.”
Additionally, Akane Yamaguchi defeated An Se-young to win the women’s singles final. Also, the Indonesian duo of Muhammad Rian Ardianto & Fajar Alfian managed to clinch the men’s doubles finals. The charismatic Chinese pair of Jia Yifan & Chen Qingchen won the women’s doubles. Another Chinese pair, Zheng Siwei & Huang Yaqiong, managed to go past Arisa Higashino & Yuta Watanabe to win the mixed doubles finals.