YONEX-OCBC US Open 2009 - USA, Canada share honours, Taufik reigns supreme

Bach, a former world champion with Tony Gunawan, teamed up with Eva Lee to bag the mixed doubles title and later followed up with another emphatic win in the men’s doubles with Gunawan.

Bach-Eva took just 26 minutes to clinch the mixed doubles title at the expense of Canada’s Alvin Lau-Jiang Xuelian, romping to a 21-13, 21-12 win to give the home fans plenty to cheer about.

Lau-Xuelian looked too nervous and with their match filled with unforced errors, Bach-Eva could not have asked for an easier final.

Anna Rice, however, atoned for her compatriots’ loss when she beat Mona Susanto 21-17, 21-9 to take the women’s singles crown.Anna, the top seed, used her experience and repertoire of strokes to bring the unseeded American’s dream run to a crushing end and win her first ever US Open final.

The Canadians had more reason to cheer in the women’s doubles when Huang Ruiling-Jiang Xuelian stopped Chen Ying-Grace Peng in a thrilling three-game final, winning 14-21, 21-15, 21-11.

While it was the Americans who drew first blood, it was the consistency of the Canadian pair that made the difference as Ruiling-Xuelian clinched their first US Open women’s doubles title as well.

But the day ended on a high note for the Americans when Bach-Gunawan proved too good for the Austrian pair of Jurgen Koch-Peter Zauner in what was the shortest match of the day, 23 minutes.

Bach-Gunawan, world champions in 2005, showed greater understanding and determination to win the title as the Austrians were left well and truly beaten.

In an earlier final, Indonesia’s former Olympic and world champion Taufik Hidayat was simply a class above his opponent, Chinese Taipei’s Hsueh Hsuan Yi, taking 31 minutes to win 21-15, 21-16.

Despite Hsueh’s courageous attempts to attack and break Taufik’s rhythm, it proved to be futile as the Indonesian, eventhough playing at a leisurely pace, still packed too much firepower.