The BWF World Tour Super 750 tournament, Malaysia Open 2022, ends on Sunday (3/7/2022). Apriyani Rahayu/Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhant climb the podium to win the Malaysia Open 2022 on women’s double. The 2021 SEA Games gold medal winner became the champion after overthrowing the Chinese women’s doubles, Zhang Shu Xian/Zheg Yu.
From the men’s singles sector, Viktor Axelsen continued to show his dominance. This time, Viktor Axelsen succeeded in silencing the best Japanese men’s singles collector with two world titles, Kento Momota. Axelsen only gave Kento Momota 11 points in the final which lasted 34 minutes.
The duel Axelsen vs Momota became the final match of the Malaysia Open 2022 which ended the fastest compared to the other four matches. Victory over Kento Momota is very historic for Viktor Axelsen. Because, the Malaysia Open 2022 is the first Super 750 title for Axelsen, who is now 28 years old.
The facts above are not the only history that was born from the final of the Malaysia Open 2022. There is a lot of other history and some interesting facts from the series of final matches that were held at the Axiata Arena. Here is a recap of the Malaysia Open 2022:
1. Historical Records
A lot of history was born from the final of the Malaysia Open 2022. The first history was made by mixed doubles from China, Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong. In the final of the Malaysia Open 2022, Zheng/Huang succeeded in overthrowing the world champions from Thailand, Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai. Zheng/Huang as the second seed managed to beat the Thai pair in two straight games in 35 minutes.
The success of winning the Malaysia Open 2022 title at the same time led Zheng/Huang to make history. Zheng/Huang are now listed as the first pair to win the BWF World Tour tournament four times in a row. Before winning the Malaysia Open 2022 title, Zheng/Huang first successfully climbed the podium to win the Thai Open 2022, Indonesia Masters 2022, and Indonesia Open 2022.
Another history that was created from the final of the Malaysia Open 2022 was recorded in the name of Apriyani/Fadia. The gold ink written by Apriyani/Fadia this time is the same as Axelsen’s, namely winning the first BWF World Tour Super 750 title in his career. The difference is, Apriyani/Fadia only took less than two months out of three tournaments to win the Super 750 title since their debut on the BWF World Tour in June 2022. On the other hand, Axelsen had to wait four years since the BWF World Tour format was introduced in 2018.
2 Axelsen’s domination
The victory over Kento Momota and the Malaysia Open 2022 title further confirmed Axelsen’s dominance in the men’s singles sector. Including the final of the Malaysia Open 2022, Viktor Axelsen has completed a total of 36 matches and has only lost once this year. The only player to beat Viktor Axelsen this year is the men’s singles from India, Lakshya Sen. That moment occurred in the semifinals of the German Open 2022 in March.
After that, Axelsen was no longer invincible and successfully defeated many of the world’s top players, from Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, Jonatan Christie, Chou Tien Chen, Lee Zii Jia, to Kento Momota. The Malaysia Open 2022 is Axelsen’s fifth title this year. Viktor Axelsen’s other four titles are All England 2022, European Championship 2022, Indonesia Masters 2022 and Indonesia Open 2022.
3. Apriyani/Fadia Rise
Since their debut at the 2021 SEA Games, the trend of Apriyani/Fadia’s performance has continued to accelerate. In less than three months, Apriyani/Fadia successfully won a gold medal at the 2022 SEA Games, became runner-up at the Indonesia Masters 2022, and won the Malaysia Open 2022.
Apriyani/Fadia’s journey to reach the championship podium in Malaysia Open 2022 is fantastic. Apriyani/Fadia successfully defeated several world’s top players such as the 2022 All England Open champions, Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Sida (Japan), to the world’s number one women’s singles, Chen Qing Cheng/Jia Yi Fan (China).
Thanks to Apriyani/Fadia, the 55-year long wait for the Indonesian public to see Indonesia’s women’s doubles again on the podium to win the Malaysia Open finally came to a halt. The last time the Red and White women’s doubles were able to win the Malaysia Open was Retno Koestijah/Minarni in the 1967 edition.
