Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn made history on Sunday as he stunned world champion Viktor Axelsen in a hard-fought final to win the India Open 2023 title in New Delhi.
The world No. 8 Vitidsarn beat the Olympic champion from Denmark 22-20, 10-21, 21-12 to win his maiden BWF title and first Super 750 tournament.
Vitidsarn is just the fourth man to beat Axelsen in a final in the last 5 years after Kento Momota, Anders Antonsen & Lee Zii Jia.
"Considering this is my first win against Viktor Axelsen, this is the best game I have played."
"I gave my all today. Never thought I'll comeback today but I won," Vitidsarn said after the win.
Axelsen was aiming to win his third India Open title, having previously clinched it in 2019 and 2017. This was his first defeat against the 21-year-old Vitidsarn in seven meetings and it brought an end to Axelsen's 13-match winning streak.
"Big thanks to the Indian crowd. I want to come back here against. Sadly I couldn't them a win but It was brilliant seeing so many fans here," Axelsen said after finishing runner-up.
Young Stuns Yamaguchi
Meanwhile, the women's singles title was lifted by first-time winner An Se-young, who became the first shuttler from Korea to achieve the feat in India.
Se-young defeated two-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 15-21, 21-16, 21-12 in just over an hour to register her sixth win against the world No. 1.
