The Shuttle Drop: Chou keeps beating the clock

At 36, Chou Tien Chen has become the oldest player to win a Super 1000 title. His China Open victory came through one of the hardest possible routes, including wins over defending champion Shi Yu Qi, All England winner Lin Chun Yi and, in the final, France’s Toma Junior Popov.

Seven years after his previous triumph at this level, Chou remains capable of solving the best players on their best weeks.

There was plenty elsewhere to influence the conversation before next month’s World Championships. Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri completed a remarkable fortnight by winning consecutive titles in Japan and China; Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning became the first women’s pair to collect three Super 1000 crowns in one World Tour season; and Akane Yamaguchi responded to disappointment in Tokyo by winning the China Open nine years after her first title there.

The circuit now moves to Taipei, where new partnerships and one particularly motivated home favourite offer the final diversion before attention turns fully towards New Delhi.

When Chou Tien Chen began competing internationally in 2007, Toma Junior Popov was nine years old. Nineteen years later, their China Open final offered the familiar contrast between an experienced player extending his career and a younger opponent apparently moving towards his peak.

Chou won 21-15, 7-21, 21-13, but the result alone does not explain the quality of his week. He removed top seed and defending champion Shi Yu Qi, beat Lin Chun Yi and then found a way through Popov despite being comprehensively outplayed in the second game. The final turned on Chou’s ability to reset rather than react. He slowed the exchanges when necessary, varied the height of his shots and made Popov build each attack rather than feeding him easy pace.

That patience has defined much of Chou’s career, although simply remaining on tour is now an achievement of its own. He underwent a colectomy after an early-stage colorectal cancer diagnosis in 2023 and has spoken openly about the daily physiotherapy, nutrition and recovery work required to continue competing.

His last Super 1000 title came at the 2019 Indonesia Open. Winning another seven years later is less a late-career flourish than confirmation that Chou has found a sustainable way to remain relevant while the generation around him changes.

Two weeks ago, the unresolved question around Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri was whether they could finish a major tournament. They had reached five World Tour finals since becoming permanent partners and lost them all.

They have now won two in succession.

After beating Kim Won Ho and Seo Seung Jae in the Japan Open final, the Indonesians defeated the world No.1 pair again in Changzhou, recovering from the loss of the opening game to win 16-21, 21-19, 21-19. Those consecutive victories matter because Kim and Seo have been the reference point in men’s doubles; beating them once can be an excellent afternoon, but doing it in back-to-back finals suggests a genuine change in the balance.

Fajar and Fikri were initially paired as a temporary solution at last year’s Japan Open. Twelve months later, they are world No.2, have won major titles in consecutive weeks and appear increasingly comfortable sharing responsibilities despite both having built their reputations nearer the front court.

Their understanding is still developing, but the World Championships will begin with few pairs carrying greater confidence.

Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning arrived in Changzhou with legitimate questions surrounding their fitness. They had withdrawn from the Japan Open, and Tan had recently been seen walking with a pronounced limp. With the World Championships and Asian Games still to come, entering another demanding tournament appeared a considerable risk.

Their response was to win the title without dropping a game.

The 21-14, 21-19 victory over Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto made Liu and Tan the first women’s doubles pair to win three Super 1000 tournaments in a single season since the World Tour began in 2018. It also avenged their defeat to the Japanese pair in last month’s Indonesia Open final.

The most interesting change was Tan’s role. Liu is usually the more obvious playmaker, but Tan repeatedly moved forward in China, intercepted early and became the pair’s principal source of disruption. It may have been an adaptation to protect her movement, but it made the partnership less predictable and allowed them to control the front half of the court.

Their physical condition will still need managing. On form, however, the reigning world champions remain the pair everyone else must solve in New Delhi.

Akane Yamaguchi left her home Japan Open disappointed after losing the final to PV Sindhu. Seven days later, she had another title.

Her 21-18, 21-16 victory over Chen Yu Fei came in the 38th meeting between two players who know almost every variation of one another’s game. Yamaguchi now leads the rivalry 24-14 and has beaten Chen in both of their meetings this season.

The wider achievement was her recovery through another difficult week. She needed three games to defeat defending champion Wang Zhi Yi in the semifinal, having already played a demanding tournament in Tokyo, yet controlled the final more comfortably than the score occasionally suggested.

Yamaguchi described her performance against Chen as a “10 out of 10”, particularly pleased with her rhythm, movement and patience. Her first China Open title came in 2017; winning again nine years later is another measure of the consistency that has kept her near the top of women’s singles through several different eras.

The title escaped him, but becoming France’s first singles player to reach a Super 1000 final represents a major change in his standing. With Alex Lanier winning in Singapore and Christo Popov in Japan, France now has three credible men’s singles medal threats before the World Championships.

Back-to-back titles have removed the only obvious weakness in their first year together: converting finals. The next test is whether their flexible rotation remains as effective when every leading pair has time to study it before New Delhi.

An Olympic women’s doubles champion beginning a mixed doubles partnership is enough to attract attention. Apriyani’s speed, defence and front-court instincts should translate well, although the early challenge will be establishing clear positions with Dejan rather than relying on individual reactions.

The Taipei Open begins on 28 July, with Chou returning home as the top men’s singles seed only two days after his China Open victory. He is pursuing a fifth title at the event, although the immediate challenge may be recovering sufficiently to make use of home advantage. The Super 300 tournament runs until 2 August at Taipei Arena.

The doubles draws contain several partnerships worth monitoring. Former men’s doubles world No.1 Muhammad Rian Ardianto begins a new combination with Daniel Marthin, while former mixed doubles world No.7 Hiroki Midorikawa partners 19-year-old Yuto Nakashizu.

Apriyani Rahayu’s move into mixed doubles is the most eye-catching experiment. The Tokyo Olympic women’s doubles champion will play alongside Dejan Ferdinansyah, who is returning to competition after missing several weeks. Maya Taguchi will also have a busy week, partnering Misaki Kurashima in women’s doubles while continuing her mixed doubles pairing with Yuta Watanabe.

These combinations may not all survive beyond the summer, but Taipei offers a useful testing ground: enough ranking points to matter, without the pressure or depth of the Super 750 and Super 1000 events that preceded it.

I can’t decide the result, but I can decide my attitude - Chou Tien Chen

These two weeks have tested us, but we’ve given our best to beat the world No.1 pair twice - Fajar Alfian

I’d rate myself 10 out of 10 because in both games, I maintained my own rhythm - Akane Yamaguchi

The drift in Changzhou made one side of the court considerably harder to control. From that end, the priority was not always to dominate, but to avoid conceding long runs before changing sides.

Popov used flatter front-court exchanges to reduce the wind’s influence, while Chou relied on greater margin, patience and variation. Watch how elite players change their ambition in difficult conditions: the target becomes collecting enough points from the bad end, then applying pressure once the court begins to help them.

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