Olympic champions Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei are new champions at the Yonex Denmark Open. They beat world champions Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir by 21-11 / 22-20 in the final

In yesterday's semi final, world champions Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir from Indonesia delivered an outstanding performance when they convincingly defeated the winners of last year's Yonex Denmark Open, Xu Chen and Ma Jin from China, in straight games.

That victory secured them an extra match in Odense. A match against another Chinese pair in the final at this year's edition of the tournament, Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei.

The Chinese pair had beaten Danish Joachim Fischer and Christinna Pedersen in their semi final, also quite convincingly, so all in all, the audience in Odense Sport Park could very well be in for another thrilling and well played match this Sunday afternoon, as the mixed doubles final commenced.

Twelve points straight
The match started of well with both pairs trying to get a good start. But after the Indonesians had taken the lead by 8-5, something happened. All of a sudden, the two Chinese players hit an amazing streak in which they won the following twelve rallies, securing them a 17-8 lead before Ahmad and Natsir secured another point.

Not surprisingly, Zhang and Zhao went of to close the game shortly after, 21-11.

”We were very familiar with this pair, since we have played against them so many times. So we knew how to play against them,” Zhang Nan told in relation to the twelve point streak.

”We didn't start out very well, but when we got our game going, they weren't playing very well, and that was good for us,” Zhao Yunlei added.

Straight game victory
After this supreme and dominant performance by the Chinese in the first game, Ahmad and Natsir got their act together in the following. The two pairs were pretty much neck to neck throughout the entire game, before the Indonesian world champions broke away towards the end.

They won three straight points and went from 17-17 to 20-17, securing them selves three game point, but then the Chinese pair took over again.

The next five rallies were won by Zhang and Zhao, who ended up securing the game 22-20 and thereby winning their third straight Super Series tournament, after also having won gold medals in China and Japan earlier this fall.

Good time of the year
Not anyone can go out like this and win three Super Series tournaments in a row. It is not uncommon, however, for Chinese pairs to perform like this, this time of the year, according to the newcrowned champions.

”It's actually quite normal for Chinese top pairs. Last year Xu Chen and Ma Jin also won three Super Series tournaments in a row, since it's common for us to be in really good shape at this time of the season,” Zhang Nan admitted after the victory.

Zhao Yunlei also explained another reason to why she and her partner performed so well today.

”Also, we really wanted to pay back the crowd with a high level performance,” she explained.