CHANGZHOU, SEPT 22,
Olympic champion Carolina Marin made a successful comeback on Sunday by defending her China Open title eight months after suffering a career-threatening injury.
The Spaniard tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right leg during the final of the Indonesia Masters in January and had to undergo surgery and a lengthy rehabilitation before returning to court.
The tournament in Changzhou was only the second for the triple world champion after she lost in the first round of the Vietnam Open last week.Marin faced Tai Tzu Ying in Sunday’s final, having lost her last six meetings against the Taiwanese world number four. She took time to get going but rallied to beat the former world number one 14-21 21-17 21-18.
Marin slumped on the court and broke into tears as Tai sent a forehand crosscourt shot wide on match point.
“I cannot describe my feelings right now because I’m so happy,” Marin was quoted as saying by the Badminton World Federation on its website.
“There was some frustration with myself in the first game. I tried to keep calm. I had to be patient and find the good length on the shuttle. But the most important thing is I could fight until the end,” she said.
“I just waited until she made mistakes. I just wanted to play some long rallies because I knew this match was going to be really tough. She has good strokes, she has so much deception that I had to be careful.”
