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(Photo: Badmintonphoto)
Indonesia takes over the Spain Masters champion titles
Date: 5/23/2021 11:34 AM
Published by : Sara Gonzalez Martinez (BEC)
Indonesia leads the way as winners of the 2021 Spain Masters, with France’s Toma Junior Popov being Europe’s only player to grab a champion title.

This was Indonesia’s chance to win all five category titles and it remained to be seen how many they would get away with. The Europeans facing them had a tough challenge, and only one of them succeeded in getting a spot amongst the gold winners.

A French amongst the Indonesian titans
Line Christophersen has been earning some good results, clenching silver medals in Eroupean Championships and Orlean Masters. She had no problems with winning over her semifinals opponent, as she won two straight sets against the Swiss player Jenjira Stadelmann. Still, the Indonesian young talents of this tournament have been outstanding, and not even Christophersen could oppose to it.

Indonesia’s Putri Kusuma Wardani reached quarterfinals in this year’s Orlean Masters. Despite her young age of 18, she delivered some great results, beating Sabrina Jaquet in the way with two straight games with no difficulties. Wardani now had the challenge of facing Europe’s number seven, but she won over Christophersen in straight games in a match where the young Indonesian player was superior.

It was expected for it to be a fierce clash between France’s Toma Junior Popov and Indonesia’s Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo, but the latter did not manage to hit back at the French player’s swift moves. 

Dwi Ardoyo stepped it up in the second game after losing 21-15 in the first one. It was a tight competition for points that demonstrated a similar performance between the two, but Popov got to control the deciders that took him to become the 2021 Spain Masters men’s singles champion.

-I never lost confidence in my game, I showed it on the court. All the pressure that I had from this week, all this work, it all just came out and I’m finally free, said Popov.

This is Toma Junior Popov’s BWF 300 title, and all his victories of this past few months have lead up to him achieving such a feat. Popov has been the only European getting away with a triumph in this Spain Masters edition in which Indonesians took over most titles.

An all-Indonesian winner lineup in doubles
It was the turn for the women’s doubles finalists to open the last day of the 2021 Spain Masters. It was bound to be an exciting match, as two pairs Yulfira Barkah/Febby Valencia Dwijayanti Gani and Amalie Magelund/Freja Ravn came up strong in their clashes of this tournament. However, the Indonesians were stronger this time.

-We’re very happy to be the champions. We have played at our maximum level today and we hope this is just the beginning, Barkah and Gani said.

It all started as a somehow close race to the game points between the two pairs. However, as the first game progressed, Barkah/Gani started outperforming their opponents although the Danish top seeds stood their ground to finish 16-21. It was a similar affair at the start of the second; however, The Indonesian duo took off to get eight consecutive points at which point it was difficult for the Danes to recover.

-We made too many mistakes and they didn’t make that many, I think that was the main reason why they won. We had some good rallies, but we were the ones who were making the mistakes in the end. That’s just not good enough to win the match, Magelund explained.

Still, Magelund/Ravn can be happy about their performance. Back in 2018, the pair won silver in the 2018 European Junior Championships, and they earned a similar result in last year’s SaarLorLux Open, finishing as runner-ups. The young pair are satisfied despite not managing to get the champions title in this tournament, and both have a positive outlook for the future.

-I think we can say this is our best achievement yet, we haven’t reached a final at this level so far, so obviously this is our best tournament yet, Ravn stated.

Men’s doubles was an all-round Indonesian clash in which Pramudya Kusumawardana/Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambatan faced Sabar Karyaman Gutama/Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani. It was a win for the first pair, although not an easy one as it took them three games to get the victory.

Kusumawardana/Rambitan smoothly got the first game, but Gutama/Isfahani were not ready to give up. They turned around the match with a thrilling second game that ended up earning them a win, taking the match to a third game decider. Kusumawardana/Rambitan took the court by storm demonstrating their willingness to become champions with a hard-fought yet triumphant third game that made them men’s doubles winners of this year’s Spain Masters.

Fans expected an exciting mixed doubles finals as top seeds Rinov Rivaldy/Pitha Haningtyas Mentari faced second seeds Niclas Nohr/Amalie Magelund. Magelund had just come from facing the women’s doubles final match, but she was up for the challenge just as match as her mixed doubles’ partner. 

Both pairs showed off their skills in a first game that resulted in an Indonesian win, with Rivaldy/Mentari overcoming the Danes 21-18. The Indonesian duo put on even a harder challenge for their opponents in the second game in which the Danish duo did not manage to recover and hit back at the Indonesian pair’s powerful strikes. The last match of the tournament gave Indonesia their fourth champion title of this year’s Spain Masters.
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