NANJING, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong were the better duo in an all-Chinese clash at the BWF World Championships mixed doubles final here on Sunday, beating Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping 21-17, 21-19 to clinch the gold medal.
With this straight-set victory, the duo have extended their winning streak over Wang and Huang Dongping to five matches.
"Since it was an all-Chinese final, we were not under as much pressure as when we are playing foreign players, but we still had to be rigorous and precise," Huang Yaqiong, 24, said after the match.
The top seeds withstood a strong fight-back from their rivals in the second game when leading by 14-9, as Wang and Huang Dongping showed tough resistance to close the gap point by point and catch up at 19-19.
But Zheng and Huang Yaqiong restored themselves in the key moments, hitting at the gold medal point with a smash and eventually wrapping up the victory after Wang's overhand strike was out.
Because the world No. 1 pair Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir didn't participate in the world championships this year, Zheng and Huang Yaqiong, currently ranking second in the world, came to Nanjing as the top seeds.
"I know our supporters have great expectations for us, and winning the title proved that we can cope with that stress," Zheng said. The 21-year-old, with his former partner Chen Qingchen, won the silver medal at the mixed doubles last year in Glasgow and then has paired up with Huang Yaqiong since last October and immediately stormed to the gold at the Macao Open.
There were not too many ups-and-downs in the first game. Zheng and Huang Yaqiong never fell behind after a 5-5 tie.
"Although failing to win the gold, but I was satisfied with our performance this week. Our opponents played more aggressively today, we were not as fast as them. But I had a good communication with my partner on the court, we can learn something from this match," Wang concluded after the loss.
Earlier in the afternoon, the young Japanese duo of Mayu Matumoto and Wakana Nagahara, in their first world championships, came from one game down to overcome teammates Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota 19-21, 21-19, 22-20 in a one-hour-and-35-minute thrilling final to win the women's doubles title.
Fukushima and Hirota almost touched gold in their second world championships final when they led by 20-18 in the third game, but the runners-up in Glasgow squandered two match points and lost four points in a row, conceding their second consecutive worlds final defeat. Matumoto and Nagahara, on the other hand, were given the glory of winning Japan's first title in the discipline since 1977.
