He’s 35 – considered an advanced age for badminton. The love affair with Istora should’ve been wearing thin by now; instead, it’s only getting stronger. And on the strength of that love, Chou Tien Chen continues to blossom.

With a doting crowd cheering him every step of the way, Chou repaid the faith with another high-energy performance, getting one step closer to repeating his epic feat from 2019 at this venue.

And who could have been a more appropriate opponent in the final than Anders Antonsen, the very man he beat in that epic 2019 final?

Chou had three difficult matches the last three days; on Saturday he faced new world No.1 and man of the moment Kunlavut Vitidsarn, on a run of two titles in two weeks. Fatigue was expected to be a factor but Chou played with the boundless energy of someone half his age.

“At heart, I’m younger than my opponent,” Chou had stated yesterday and it was no mere talk. Vitidsarn, expecting to slug it out with a man who excels in long matches, was in for a surprise, with Chou forcing the pace and attacking at every opportunity. The Thai was frequently caught out as he struggled to stay abreast and defend with his usual solidity but he offered no excuses.

“He surprised me,” Vitidsarn admitted. “Earlier he used to play a lot of long rallies first but today he changed his style and put pressure and it was difficult for me.

“It was very difficult to control (the shuttle) in this stadium. Today everything he did was very nice. It was very tough for me. I was tired but you have to play even when you are tired.”

For Chou, the story just keeps getting better.

“It’s crazy. He’s the new world No.1 and he just won the Thailand Open and Singapore Open so maybe he was a bit tired,” Chou said. “He’s a good all-round player so you need to push him every shot, otherwise he will push you. I just think I’m younger than my opponents. You need to change your mind and be humble and stable.”

Antonsen too has a special relationship with the Istora, for he has been in six previous finals. Today, against Shi Yu Qi – who beat him in the final of the last edition – the Dane was all high quality from the second game onwards. It got tense at the end with Shi saving five of six match points but overall he’d been the better player.

“Fantastic, super proud of myself. Not sure how I managed to find a way back because I was being totally dominated in the first game. Kept fighting, super proud,” Antonsen said.

“I started to tense up. From 13 or 14 I started to be very tense. He sensed that and he’s down 20-14, it’s a free opportunity for him to do whatever. It worked and with every point I started to get more and more tense. It was pure luck in the very end.”

Tan/Muralitharan Excel

The other big story of the day was Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan making their first Super 1000 final. The Malaysians recovered from a first game deficit against Luo Xu Min/Li Yi Jing to win 12-21 21-17 21-11.

However, another Malaysian pair, Man Wei Chong/Tee Kai Wun, fell in a close semifinal to home pair Sabar Karyaman Gutama/Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahan, 21-18 12-21 21-18.

→ Results (Semifinals)

WHAT OTHERS SAID

“Words can’t describe how happy we are. One game down, we just supported each other and didn’t want to give up. Today was a crucial point because it was about the mental ability.” – Muralitharan

“We feel lucky because it was a difficult match. We struggled a lot with the conditions. But we talked a lot after the first game to change things. To do it in Istora is a bit amazing.” – Delphine Delrue, after she and Thom Gicquel made their second Super 1000 final

“I felt confident and better today. Because of this win the confidence has returned. I was struggling with my focus in the first game, then had to get my focus back on each point.” – An Se Young, after beating Akane Yamaguchi