Hidayat, Pi claim India Open badminton titles

NEW DELHI, March 29 -- Indonesian second seed Taufik Hidayat defeated Muhammad Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia in straight sets Sunday to clinch the India Open men's singles title in Hyderabad, while top-seeded Pi Hongyan of France won her first women's singles event in three years.

Hidayat, who won all previous six meetings with Hashim, maintained his winning record with a 21-18, 21-19 victory against the ex-All-England champion.

Pi, ranked fourth in the world, rallied to beat fifth-seeded Julia Wang Pei Xian of Malaysia 17-21, 21-15, 21-14 in the women's final.

Pi's last title came at the 2006 Singapore Open.

In the men's doubles final, the Malaysian duo of Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah defeated the new Singapore combination of Hendri Kurniawan Saputra and Hendra Wijaya 21-9, 21-11.

Ma Jin and Wang Xiao Li of China downed Vita Marissa and Nadya Melati of Indonesia 21-14, 21-13 for the women's doubles title.

Marissa also teamed up with Flandy Limpele to beat V. Diju and Jwala Gutta of India in the mixed doubles final.