"Did not feel like it was smooth sailing": Axelsen after India Open title win

New Delhi [India], January 19 : Following his India Open title win, the Paris Olympics gold medalist shuttler Viktor Axelsen said that his game did not feel like "smooth sailing" at all and he struggled during the start of his match.
Paris Olympic champions Axelsen of Denmark and South Korea's An Se Young registered thumping victories to clinch the men's and women's singles titles in the India Open 2025 at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall on Sunday. Axelsen, playing in his sixth India Open final in 10 years, defeated Hong Kong's Lee Cheuk Yiu 21-16, 21-8 to clinch his third India Open men's singles crown while An Se Young had little trouble in packing off Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong 21-12, 21-9 in the women's singles final.
Speaking to the media after the match, Axelsen said, "To be honest it didn't feel like it was smooth sailing at all. I was struggling especially at the start of the game. I moved a little bit stiff in the defence especially, but my legs started coming. I started moving better and my defence started to be better also my offense. And then from there, I felt more and more confident. And then in the second game, I started to feel like my attack was sitting pretty well and I felt more and more comfortable."
In the doubles events, the unseeded Japanese combination of Arisa Igarashi and Ayaka Sakuramoto capped off their giant-killing run with a clinical 21-15, 21-13 victory over South Korea's Kim Hye Jang and Kong Hee Young in the women's doubles summit clash. This is only the third tournament together for the Japanese combination with Igarashi, formerly known as Arisa Higashino, making a successful shift to women's doubles from mixed doubles.
However, Chinese second seeds Jiang Zhen Bang and Wei Ya Xin ended the run of the unseeded French combination of Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue with a 21-18, 21-17 win in the mixed doubles final.
Malaysian men's doubles combination of Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin found a way past South Korea's Kim Won Ho and Seo Seung Jae 21-15, 13-21, 21-16 to clinch the title in the only match that went to the decider.
While An Se Young has been dominating the women's singles circuit, the men's singles final was expected to be a close affair as Axelsen had lost to Lee in the opening round of the Malaysian Open last week and had struggled to close out his quarterfinal and semi-final matches.
In the final, the 2017 and 2019 champion did not start well and was trailing 2-6 before he started finding the range of his smashes. Lee, who had reached the final last year as well, tried to keep attacking the backhand of the Dane but began making errors once the eventual champion started retrieving all his attacking strokes.
Once Axelsen pocketed the opening game, he simply ran away with the second to take home a prize purse of 66,500 US dollars and 11,000 ranking points.
"After this week, I feel my motivation is coming back. Since the Olympics, I had been struggling with injuries... This week has been very inconsistent for me mentally and game-wise but I am happy that I fought hard to win the title," said Axelsen, who thanked the fans for the vociferous support he got throughout the tournament.
The women's singles final was also a one-sided affair with Paris Olympic champion An Se Young of South Korea extending her dominance over Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong with a 21-12, 21-9 in just 39 minutes.
The 2023 Indian Open champion came into the final with a 9-0 head-to-head record against Chochuwong and took control of the match in the initial few exchanges. She raced to an 11-4 lead and then held 11 game points. The Thai saved three of them but the gap was too big for her to recover.
In the second game, Young took a 7-1 lead and then controlled the proceedings perfectly to continue her all-win record of 2025 by adding her second India Open title to the Malaysia Open crown she bagged last week. The 22-year-old Korean hasn't dropped a single game in her 10 matches this year.
Results:
Men's singles:
3-Viktor Axelsen (Den) bt Lee Cheuk Yiu (Hkg) 21-16, 21-8
Women's singles:
1-An Se Young (Kor) bt 8-Pornpawee Chochuwong (Tha) 21-12, 21-9
Men's doubles:
3-Goh Sze Fei/Nu Izzuddin (Mas) bt Kim Won Ho/Seo Seung Jae (Kor) 21-15, 13-21, 21-16
Women's doubles:
Arisa Igarashi/Ayako Sakuramoto (Jpn) bt 8-Kim Hye Jang/Kong Hee Young (Kor) 21-15, 21-13
Mixed doubles:
2-Jiang Zhen Bang/Wei Ya Xin (Chn) bt Thom Gicquel/Delphine Delrue (Fra) 21-18, 21-17.