Kim/Kong on Song – Japan Open: Doubles Finals
Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong captured the biggest title of their career, winning the DAIHATSU YONEX Japan Open 2019 in the most brazen fashion over world champions and home favourites Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana…
· DEV SUKUMAR
Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong captured the biggest title of their career, winning the DAIHATSU YONEX Japan Open 2019 in the most brazen fashion over world champions and home favourites Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara.
In the process, Kim and Kong became the first Koreans to win the women’s doubles at the Japan Open since 2004, when their current coach Lee Kyung Won and Ra Kyung Min took the title.
Kim and Kong’s recent form, and the manner of their entry into the final, served as a portent for what awaited their victims in the final. Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara were blown away in 43 minutes. It was again Kim So Yeong’s all-court brilliance that helped the Koreans maintain a vice-like grip on the proceedings. Kim was as effective from the deep – smashing with sting, suddenly unveiling the drop – as she was up front, where she made sudden forays and cut off anything that was in her way.