India Open: Back from the Brink
A first Super 750 final was Pornpawee Chochuwong’s reward for her stubborn resistance during a nearly lost cause in the semifinals of the YONEX-SUNRISE India Open 2025.
· DEV SUKUMAR
And as the Thai celebrated one of her career’s best wins in the face of defeat, at the opposite end was crestfallen 18-year-old Tomoka Miyazaki, coming to terms with the bitterness of defeat in a match that tested the physical and mental limits of both players.
Miyazaki was seemingly at control at 20-18 in the second, but here Chochuwong’s dogged resistance came to the fore as she took the match to a decider. To Miyazaki’s credit, she didn’t allow the lost opportunity to distract her, and she was very much in the hunt until the very end, but Chochuwong’s superior experience proved decisive as she edged her young opponent 11-21 24-22 21-19. It will be Chochuwong’s biggest final since the All England in 2021.
“She was faster than me in the beginning, and I tried to step it up. Just had to fight it out in the third,” said Chochuwong.