21 April, 2024
Ethan Rose shone in Slovakia to win the men’s singles KAWASAKI Slovak Open in a thrilling 64-minute final against Karan Rajan Rajarajan.
The 21-year-old battled through four rounds before coming up against the Dane in the final-day showpiece, coming out on top with a 13-21 21-18 21-17 triumph.
Rose opened with a convincing 21-18 21-14 win against Dominik Kopriva but was made to work for his round of 16 victory against sixth seed Brian Holtschke.
He went a game down against the German before booking his quarter-final spot with an 18-21 21-12 21-14 win.
The nine-time junior champion cruised past Polish pair Andrzej Niczyporuk and eighth seed Mikolaj Szymanowski in the quarter and semi-finals to set up a final bout with Rajarajan.
The final opponents played a total of 111 points over the course of more than an hour but, after going 21-13 down in the first game, Rose triumphed in the final two games to stand top of the men’s singles podium.
Elsewhere, Leona Lee came through two qualification rounds to make it all the way to the semi-final of the women’s singles.
Lee cruised past Anastasiia Volkova 21-4 21-8 in the first qualification round before overcoming Ukraine’s Anastasiia Alymova 21-17 21-18 to make the last 32.
Convincing victories followed, beating Joanna Rudna 21-15 21-14 before going on to get the better of Zuzanna Jankowska 21-18 21-18.
An impressive performance against India’s Ananya Agrawal, coming from a game down to win 18-21 21-12 21-14 set up a final contest with top seed Agnes Korosi, who came out stronger in two games to win 21-17 22-20.
Michael Pang also made it through qualification in the men’s singles but fell in the first round to Niczyporuk, who Rose would go on to beat, 21-13 21-11.
