The Danish badminton player Anders Antonsen has played strongly in the Singapore Open, but in his first tournament after an injury break he has to settle for second place.
On Sunday, he lost the final to second-seeded Anthony Ginting from Indonesia 16-21, 13-21.
The Aarhusian is therefore still chasing his first triumph on the World Tour since he won the 2020 season final over Viktor Axelsen in January 2021.
In Sunday’s final, Antonsen managed to keep up until 15-15 in the first set, but from there the class difference showed.
Suddenly, the Dane had major problems with the length of his shots, and then Ginting was able to clench his fists to win the first set with 21-16.
In the second set, Antonsen played on the “good” half of the court, but the wind conditions could not change the fact that the world’s second best badminton player was too big a mouthful for the 26-year-old Dane, who had lost his breath.
Antonsen has previously delivered great comebacks on the badminton court, but when he was behind 6-11 midway through the second set, the Dane seemed to give up the match completely.
Soon after, Ginting led 19-8, and even though Antonsen got the decision postponed a bit, there was no doubt about the outcome. In the end, Antonsen smashed the shuttlecock into the net before shaking hands with his boss in appreciation.
Anders Antonsen is number 22 in the world rankings, but was ranked number two as recently as last October.
2023-06-11 10:57:46
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