JAPANNESE were the biggest winners at badminton’s 2019 Japan Open, as Kento Momota and Akane Yamaguchi claimed the men’s and women’s singles titles, respectively, at Musashino Forest Sport Plaza on Sunday.

World No.1 Momota breezed past No.6 seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia 21-16, 21-13 to defend his title on home soil.

“Everyone has studied my game, and sometimes even when I play well, things don’t work out. That’s the difficulty I faced this year. I wasn’t in good form, and that made me nervous, coming into the Japan Open. Winning under these conditions is something different from last year. After my loss in Indonesia, I came with the mindset to win in Japan. I haven’t done well at other tournaments, but I was determined not to lose here at my home event,” the 24-year-old told the BWF fansite.

It took Yamaguchi 46 minutes to defeat compatriot Nozomi Okuhara 21-13, 21-15 to win the women’s singles title. The victory gives Yamaguchi enough points to surpass reigning world no.1 Tai Tzu-Ying of Chinese Taipei in the newest edition of the BWF world rankings to be released today.

Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia lived up to their top seeding, winning the men’s doubles gold after a speedy 21-18, 23-21 victory over compatriots Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in 36 minutes.

Kim So-yeong and Kong Hee-yong of South Korea upset the home crowd as they triumphed in the women’s doubles final against Japan’s top seeds Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara 21-12, 21-12.

In the mixed doubles, Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping of China defeated Indonesia’s Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva Oktavianti 21-17, 21-16 to take the title.