China's Athens Olympic gold medallist Zhang Ning
© AFP Kazuhiro NogiTOKYO (AFP) - Zhang staved off four match points and squandered five of her own before prevailing 21-11, 16-21, 30-29 after a marathon final game which went to sudden death Sunday.
"At 16-19 down in the final game, I tried to keep myself calm and concentrated on each shot. That was the key to the victory. I was able to finish off by playing aggressively at the end," said a jubilant Zhang.
Zhang had a chance to win at 22-21 in the last, but Xie scraped through after a long rally.
Neither could build a two-point lead and the match was abruptly settled by a Zhang smash at 29-all, when under new scoring rules the next point wins.
"Whenever I rushed, I made too many mistakes and both were very tired at the end of the match. But in the final game, I was able to hit the shuttle calmly. It decided the winner," Zhang said Sunday.
The 75-minute win was revenge for Zhang, who lost to Xie in the world final and at the last two All England finals. She now edges her in the head-to-heads at 10-9.
It was Zhang's fourth title of the season, following her triumphs at the German Open, Malaysia Open and the Taipei Open, and earned her the 12,420-dollar winner's check.
In the all-Indonesian mixed doubles final, the 2004 champion Vita Marissa teamed up with new partner Flandy Limpele to beat her former partner Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsier 11-21, 21-18, 21-17.
"It's great revenge after he (Widianto) abandoned me," said Marissa. "No, it's a joke. We both found a great partner and I'm happy about it. This is our first tournament. I'm very happy that we probed we can cope with a top team."
©AFP