Lauren Smith hailed a brilliant week as she and Marcus Ellis claimed their first Super 300 badminton title together by winning the Thailand Masters mixed doubles crown.
The 13-ranked pair, who won European Games gold last year, beat Indonesian fourth seed duo Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja 21-16 13-21 21-16 in one hour and four minutes in Bangkok.
It is the first time any English players have triumphed at the competition while it was also the duo’s first BWF World Tour title since winning the Scottish Open in 2018.
Taking to Instagram, Smith said: “Champions! Our first Super 300 title, so happy, brought a great level this week and fought through some tough matches against top pairs.
“Thank you for the brilliant support everyone, looking forward to heading back home tonight for some rest before getting back on it for some European competitions.”
After fighting their way through both the quarter-finals and semi-finals, the final was another case of a match of shifting momentum as Ellis and Smith claimed the first game but lost the second before wrestling back the initiative at the conclusion to the contest.
It was a perfect start to the final for Ellis and Smith as they racked up the first game in a minimum of fuss, leading from start to finish.
Game two was more difficult as the Indonesian pairing fought back and themselves led throughout most of it – pulling away after being locked with Ellis and Smith at 8-8.
But, Ellis and Smith rediscovered their mojo as they took the first six points in the final game and calmly proceeded to the title. Sportsbeat 2020