On December 13, the 2023 BWF World Tour Finals kicked off in Hangzhou. In a men's singles focus match, Shi Yuqi, ranked seventh in the world, narrowly defeated the world No. 1 21-19 in two games.
1. Defending champion Viktor Axelsen, ending an eight-game losing streak against the latter.
This is also the first time in four years that the Chinese men's singles has broken through the Danish star since Chen Long defeated Axelsen 2-1 in the group stage of the 2019 finals.
Previously, Shi Yuqi had played Axelsen nine times, except for a 2-1 comeback victory in the group stage of the 2017 finals, and swallowed eight consecutive defeats in the following six years. The last time the two met was at the Kumamoto Masters a month ago, when Shi Yuqi lost 20-21 after biting his opponent for most of the game.
Coming to the finals, the two former champions met in the group stage. Shi Yuqi quickly entered the state, and in the first game, he scored frequently in front of the net with a high degree of concentration. Despite being tied at 19-14, "The Stone" held on to two points in a row to win the first game 21-19. In the first half of the second game, Axelsen took a narrow lead most of the time. Shi Yuqi scored 6 points in a row at 13-14, established an advantage, and finally withstood the pressure of being chased by his opponent and won 21-19.
After the game, Shi Yuqi said that he optimized the details of the ball in this game, and at the same time, due to the high offensive efficiency of the opponent, he minimized active mistakes to avoid being easily finished. "He's the 'top of the pyramid' in men's singles, and everyone wants to challenge him. Shi Yuqi bluntly said that he summed up after the last defeat, and at the same time told himself not to lose confidence. In this game, I held the mentality of impact and played more resolutely, "It is also an affirmation of myself to be able to win, and I hope to bring this state to the next games." ”
At the same time, several times when he was in the lead, he was caught up by the opponent, and the "stone" also saw the shortcomings for the first time, "When I was ahead, the opponent was definitely more relaxed and more open." And if I want to win more, I'll be conservative, and that's not a good job. He said that the players who can reach the finals are outstanding, and he still needs to maintain confidence and be ready to challenge and impact the opponent. ”
In this year's finals, the national feather won a full quota of 10 places. In the first round of the group stage, the Chinese team won 3 wins and 1 loss in the "foreign war", and the mixed doubles Zheng Siwei, Huang Yaqiong, Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping all passed in straight games, and only Li Shifeng lost 0-2 to Antonsen. In the other three individual events, the first round of the national feather all staged a "derby" battle, women's singles Chen Yufei, women's doubles Chen Qingchen Jia Yifan, and men's doubles Liu Yuchen Ou Xuanyi defeated Han Yue, Liu Shengshu, Tan Ning, Liang Weihang, Wang Chang respectively, and won the first victory.