Ratchanok claimed her second World Tour title of the year after winning the US$475,000 (approx B15.2 million) event at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium, almost 10 months after her first at the Indonesia Masters in January. Both were Super 500 events, reports the Bangkok Post.
Third seed Ratchanok took 41 minutes to defeat former champion Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia 21-16, 22-20 in the women’s singles final.
Yesterday’s victory was the first-ever title in Japan for Ratchanok. The 30-year-old Thai star has now won her eighth World Tour title.
With the victory, Ratchanok is projected to move up one spot to No.8 in the world when the new rankings are released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) tomorrow.
A great day for Thai shuttlers started with Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Supissara Paewsampran retaining their mixed doubles crown, taking home the title they won exactly a year ago.
In a rematch of last year’s mixed doubles final, top seeds Dechapol and Supissara again needed three games to overcome French second seeds Tom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue, the world No.5 pair.
The Thais prevailed 21-18, 14-21, 21-18 after 69 entertaining minutes to complete back-to-back titles. Their final match-up last year also went the distance.
The Kumamoto title - their fifth of 2025 - means the world No.3 pair have won at all four levels this year.
Their other four victories included the Malaysia Open (Super 1000), the Thailand Masters (Super 300), the Singapore Open and the China Masters (Super 750).
In the men’s singles final, Kodai Naraoka won an all-Japanese clash against Kenta Nishimoto, with the fourth seed prevailing in three games, 21-11, 10-21, 21-15 in an hour and 13 minutes - the longest final yesterday.
Naraoka was the only home winner after Japanese players lost both of the men’s and women’s doubles finals.
Korean top seeds Kim Won-Ho and Seo Seung-Jae rallied to deny home hopes Hiroki Midorikawa and Kyohei Yamashita 20-22, 21-11, 21-16 in the men’s doubles final.
Malaysia’s Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan won the women’s doubles title, defeating Japan’s Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi 22-20, 21-19.