Santoso shocks Lee to win OUE Singapore Open

SINGAPORE — Indonesia’s Simon Santoso pulled off an upset victory over world No 1 Lee Chong Wei to clinch the US$300,000 OUE Singapore Open badminton championships today (Apr 13).

Santoso, who has beaten the Malaysian star, a two-time Olympic silver medallist, just once in 10 previous meetings, won 21-15, 21-10 to claim the US$22,500 men’s singles winner’s cheque at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

“I’m very happy with my performance today. This is the best performance since I came back from injury,” said former world No 3 Santoso, whose long-term back problem led to his world rankings plummeting to 52nd coming into this tournament.

“Being able to beat a top player (like Lee) in the final is a very big achievement for me. I managed to prove to myself that I can still perform even when I’m not in the national team and I’m very thankful for my coach and those who believe in me.”

In today’s other finals, Indonesia’s world No 2 mixed doubles pairing of Liliyana Natsir and Tontowi Ahmad saw of compatriots Riky Widianto and Puspita Richi Dili 21-15, 22-20.

In the women’s singles final, China’s world No 3 Wang Yihan beat compatriot and world No 1 Li Xuerui 21-11, 21-19.

In the men’s doubles, China’s Cai Yun and Lu Kai beat Taiwan’s Lee Sheng Mu and Tsai Chia Hsin 21-19, 21-14, and the women’s doubles crown went to China’s Bao Yixin and Tang Jinhua, who beat Denmark’s Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl 14-21, 21-19, 21-15.