BADMINTON/Tai Tzu-ying falls just short of title at Malaysia Open

Taipei, Jan. 14 (CNA) Taiwan's badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) came close to a second consecutive title Sunday after winning the BWF World Tour Finals in mid-December, but her comeback in the decisive set of the Malaysia Open women's singles finals fell just short.

The 29-year-old Tai got off to a strong start against world No. 1 An Se-young of South Korea in Sunday's final at the Super 1000 tournament, but was outlasted 10-21, 21-10, 21-18 as An's steadiness and skillful defense was just enough to prevail.

For Tai who plans to retire at the end of this year, it may have been her final Malaysia Open. She said she did everything she could to appreciate each match, and praised the great atmosphere and supportive fans, especially in the final.

"When I got behind just now, the fans were still rooting me on, urging me not to give up and give it everything I had," Tai said.

An has been playing with a heavily strapped knee in recent months, and Tai took advantage early of her opponent's somewhat limited movement and run of unforced errors to take the first set.

But as the 21-year-old phenom limbered up, she steadied her game and made few mistakes while putting Tai in awkward positions to win the second set easily.

Both players also had to contend with strong "drift," the movement of the air in an arena that can affect how the shuttlecock flies. It benefited Tai in the first set, and An in the second set.

It should have benefited Tai in the first half of the third set, but she could not take full advantage.

"I was behind 11-9 when we changed sides, which put more pressure on me in the second half of the third set," Tai said.

An seemed poised to record a relatively comfortable win as the set wore on, taking an 18-13 lead.

In the BWF World Tour Finals semifinals, however, Tai stunned An by coming back from a 19-10 deficit in the final set to triumph, and she nearly replicated the feat Sunday.

Down 19-15, Tai ran off three straight points, and had a smash down the line to tie the set at 19. But the shot was called just out, confirmed after a Tai challenge, and An clinched the match when Tai netted an awkward return on the next point.

Despite the loss, it was a good showing for the former world No. 1, who defeated Chen Yufei (陳雨菲) in their semifinal match, Tai's first win in five matches against the Chinese player who beat Tai in the women's singles gold medal match at the Tokyo Olympics.

Super 1000 tournaments are the highest tier events after the World Championships, Olympic Games and World Tour Finals, and the ranking points she gets should vault her just above Akane Yamaguchi to third in the world.

More important to Tai will be to continue accumulating ranking points to get the highest seed possible at the Paris Olympics in late July.