Kento Momota defeated
Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in the final of the HSBC World Tour Final 2019 to
claim his 11th title of the year. He has played a total of 12 finals
in 2019, winning 11 of them including retaining his world championship title.
The final match between Momota and Ginting lasted 1 hour and 27 minutes.
Ginting lost 21-17, 17-21, 14-21.
Coming into the match, Momota had the advantage in the head to head
record with a 10-4 lead.
The head to head now stands at
11-4 in favour of Momota.
Kento Momota has now surpassed Lee Chong Wei’s record of 10 titles in a calendar year (including a Commonwealth Games Gold), which the Malaysian legend achieved back in 2010. With this title win, Momota has set a new standard in the men’s singles discipline.
Even with the loss in the final, Ginting entering the final is the best result from an Indonesian in the men’s singles discipline in a season ending finale tournament. The best results till date were from Taufik Hidayat and Sony Dwi Kuncuro, both were Superseries semifinalists.
Ginting started off the match in great form, out maneuvering Momota with deceptions and excellent net play. He won the first game 21-17.
As the match progressed, it became a physical battle for Ginting. Momota wore Ginting down in the final game.
Ginting called for the tournament doctor at 17-14 down in the final game. He seemed to have a toe injury. However, the medical break failed to disrupt Momota’s rhythm.
Momota won 16 out of the last 18 points in the final game to clench the title in amazing fashion.
Ginting has now lost seven times to Momota this year, three of these loses are in finals. Ginting ends the year having played in five finals without any title. With this win, Momota totals his ranking points to 111918. This is the highest to be achieved by any men’s singles player in the BWF world ranking (started 2009).
Kento Momota’s tournament earnings for 2019 stands at 536,900 USD.