India Open: Vitidsarn Shows How It’s Done
And so, after 13 straight wins in finals, Viktor Axelsen got to taste defeat. It came against Kunlavut Vitidsarn, who hadn’t taken a game off the Dane in six previous meetings. The David-Goliath story closed out the…
· DEV SUKUMAR
And so, after 13 straight wins in finals, Viktor Axelsen got to taste defeat. It came against Kunlavut Vitidsarn, who hadn’t taken a game off the Dane in six previous meetings. The David-Goliath story closed out the YONEX SUNRISE India Open 2023 on an unlikely, yet exciting note.
Going into the final, Vitidsarn had talked about every match against Axelsen being an opportunity to learn. Today he showed he’d learnt the lessons, and that he could put them to good use as well. The Thai turned in a finely calibrated performance, a steady, fast-paced counter-attacking masterpiece that wore down his bigger and harder-hitting opponent.
So tight did he keep the shuttle to starve his opponent of opportunities that the cracks in the Dane’s game widened midway through the third, allowing Vitidsarn the cushion he needed to wrap it up before it got close.