Bega Open: Top seeds Khafagy & Tsukue Claim Victorious on finals day

Egypt’s Malak Khafagy and Japan’s Ryunosuke Tsukue were victorious on finals day at the Volkswagen Bega Open over the weekend as they overcame Indian duo Tanvi Khanna and Velavan Senthilkumar to claim the 12k titles.

The men’s final was up first as World No.59 Tsukue took on in-form Indian Senthilkumar for the title. The Japanese No.1 captured the first game with relative ease, claiming it 11-4. Senthilkumar was more competitive in the second game and troubled the top seed but Tsukue managed to hold on well to claim a 2-0 lead, winning 12-10. Tsukue then returned to dominance in the next game to run through to 10-1 and only need one match ball to claim the win. An eight title for the 26-year-old.

There was only eight places between the two women’s finalists Malak Khafagy and Tanvi Khanna as they took to the court for the final. Khanna has been in great form of late, reaching the final of the previous two events that she’s played, winning once. She continued this form as she took game one.

Khafagy responded in great style as she pushed up on the T to take control of the match and win games two and three 11-4, 11-7 to place one hand on the trophy. Khanna battled back to get ahead of Khafagy and forced errors from the Egyptian to draw level at 2-2 but the top seed found top form again in the fifth and final game as she won 11-8 to claim the title.

Result: Women’s final
[1] Ryunosuke Tsukue (JPN) bt [2] Velavan Senthilkumar (IND) 3-0: 11-4, 12-10, 11-4 (29m)

Result: Men’s final
[1] Malak Khafagy (EGY) bt [6] Tanvi Khanna (IND) 3-2: 7-11, 11-4, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8 (49m)