Rising stars take singles titles on final day of 2021 Scottish Open

Asian stars Wen Chi Hsu and Tze Yong Ng were crowned singles champions on the final day of action at the 2021 Scottish Open.

The women’s singles kicked off finals day in Glasgow, with Hsu meeting Line Kjaersfeldt in a rematch of last week’s Irish Open final.

Hsu, made a positive start leading 11-6 at the first interval after producing some wonderful drop shots.

The 24-year-old from Chinese Taipei never looked like relinquishing the first game lead and took the advantage by converting her third game point.

The second game was initially much tighter, with only two points the difference at the break, but Hsu produced a run of well-crafted points to take the game away from the number two seed.

A slight delay due to an issue with the court halted the match but failed to stop Hsu’s momentum.

She closed it out 21-15, 21-18 to secure a second title in just eight days, becoming the first Chinese Taipei women’s champion in Scottish Open history.

“To win here is kind of unbelievable for me,” said Hsu. “It was strange that I should have been playing Kirsty Gilmour, but she was injured.

“But to become champion is amazing. I knew she (Kjaersfeldt) was going to be a really difficult opponent for me.

“She made a lot less mistakes and played a lot faster than she did against me last week. So, I tried to keep focused on the court. It was a good match to play.

“This is one of my favourite cities so to win here is very special.”

The men’s singles final was an all-Malaysian affair between Ng and Soong Joo Ven.

Soong was a beaten finalist here in 2016 and had produced another excellent run this week, including a win over seed Toby Penty.

But he was up against it from the start against his compatriot, who looked in inspired form after racing into a 7-0 lead.

Soong did respond to make the scoreline more respectable but still went a game down after losing 21-18.

Although the second was a closer affair, with the former runner-up offering greater resilience, Ng was still in control.

When Soong went wide at 14-14, he never recovered as the world number 63 won seven straight points to close it out in straight games, 21-18, 21-14.

It gave the Malaysian his third title success in 2021, after wins at the Polish and Belgian Opens earlier this season.

“This year has been really good to me,” said Ng after his win. “I believed I was playing well, but to win such a difficult match is really important.

“It was never going to be easy for me but for him also, as we had never played as opponents before.

“The back-to-back matches we have had here the last few days has left me very tired, so I wanted to start well and managed to do that.”

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