Staying cool and calm: Nur Izzuddin Rumsani (left) celebrating with Goh Sze Fei after clinching a point against Denmark’s Kim Astrup-Anders Rasmussen during the Arctic Open men’s doubles final in Vantaa, Finland, yesterday. — AFP
PETALING JAYA: Men’s doubles shuttlers Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani are on a fiery run after winning their third title of the year by capturing the Arctic Open yesterday.
The world No. 8 Malaysians took down defending champions and world No. 2 Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark 15-21, 21-15, 21-19 in an hour and 12 minutes at the Energia Arena in Vantaa, Finland.
Although they fell in the first set, Sze Fei-Izzuddin kept their composure to take the second set.
As things looked promising for the Danish duo to defend their title in the third set, the Malaysians caught up and tied things up at 19-19, eventually going on to take the win.
The Malaysians have now won two of the previous eight encounters with the Danish duo, with their previous win coming at the 2022 French Open.
The Super 500 win now means the Malaysians have won every level of the BWF World Tour, adding to their Japan Open (Super 750) win in August and China Open (Super 1000) win last month.
The pair had previously won the Abu Dhabi Masters and Kaohsiung Masters (Super 100) last year, and the Super 300 German Open in 2022 and US Open in 2023.
They now join the elite group of shuttlers as the fifth pair to complete the BWF World Tour title, which includes Astrup-Rasmussen, India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty, Indonesia’s Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto, and Taiwan’s Lee Yang-Wang Chi-lin.
Meanwhile, China’s Han Yue took the women’s singles title after defeating Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon 21-10, 21-13.
The mixed doubles win went to China’s Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping who toppled compatriots Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin 21-18, 6-21, 21-15.
