Carolina Marin (above) of Spain pulled off a monumental upset, as she beat the World No. 1, Li Xuerui of China, to win the women's singles title at the World Championships in Copenhagen.
However, Chen Long (below) restored China's pride by winning the men's singles title, inflicting a third successive ?nal defeat on Ma-laysia's World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei.
Marin, 21, seeded No. 9, recovered after dropping the opening game to the top seed and Olympic champion to complete an incredible 17-21, 21-17, 21-18 victory and earn her country its first ever major title in the sport.
"I don't have any words... it was a fantastic match," said Marin, who became the first European women's world singles champion since Denmark's Camilla Martin in 1999.
"She played amazing rallies in the first set and her strokes are so good. My coach told me if I wanted to win, I had to ?ght until the end. I fought to the end. I feel so excited," she added.
For Li it was yet another agonising defeat. She had fallen at the final hurdle a year ago on home soil in Guangzhou to Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon. Later, in the men's singles final, the top-seeded, Lee, went down 21-19, 21-19 to Chen, the second-seeded Chinese player.
Earlier, China extended its dominance in women's doubles, as Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei claimed the country's 12th straight gold medal in the event by defeating compatriots Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli 21-19, 21-15.
The results (all finals):Men's singles: Chen Long (China, seeded No. 2) beat Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia, No. 1) 21-19, 21-19.
Doubles: Ko Sung-hyun & Shin Baek-choel (Korea, No. 12) beat Lee Yong-dae & Yoo Yeon-seong (Korea, No. 2) 22-20, 21-23, 21-18.
Women's singles: Carolina Marin (Spain, No. 9) beat Li Xuerui (China, No. 1) 17-21, 21-17, 21-18.
Doubles: Tian Qing & Zhao Yunlei (China, No. 5) beat Wang Xiaoli & Yu Yang (China, No. 4) 21-19, 21-15.
Agencies
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