Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai had to settle for a runner-up spot in the US$775,000 Denmark Open after losing to top seeds Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong in the mixed doubles final in Odense on Sunday.
In their quest to win their first title of the year and their maiden BWF World Tour Super 750 (formerly Superseries Premier) crown, the Thai duo found their Chinese opponents too tough to handle as the world No.1 pair cruised to a 21-16, 21-13 victory in just 34 minutes at Odense Sports Park.
It was Dechapol and Sapsiree's first final together this year since the latter's return from a long injury lay-off. Dechapol and his other playing partner Puttita Supajirakul were losing finalists at the Thailand Masters, a Super 300 event, in January.
The lopsided victory was a stark contrast to their only previous meeting with the winners at the China Open quarter-finals last month, where Zheng and Huang needed three games to overcome the Thai pair 17-21, 21-14, 21-19.
Dechapol and Sapsiree head to Paris this week to play in the $750,000 French Open. They have been drawn to face China's Lu Kai and Chen Lu in the first round.
In women's singles title match, there was no stopping Tai Tzu-ying as the Taiwanese world No.1 claimed her seventh title of the year.
The 24-year-old top seed overcame Saina Nehwal of India 21-13, 13-21, 21-6 in 52 minutes to land her second title this month after her victory at the Chinese Taipei Open a couple of weeks ago.
Tai also won the gold medal at the Asian Games in Indonesia.
Tai has now a total of 18 elite World Tour (formerly Superseries) level titles. She stands just two behind Wang Yihan's record of 20.
Top seeds Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota defeated fifth seeded compatriots Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto 21-19, 21-16 to claim the women's doubles crown.
Top seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia were due to play Japanese fourth seeds Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda in the men's doubles title match while second seed and world No.1 Kento Momota of Japan and fourth seed Chou Tien-chen of Taiwan were scheduled to square off in the men's singles decider.
