(Beijing, October 14) In the women's singles final of the 2007 International Badminton Invitational Tournament held this evening, Xie Xingfang emerged victorious as expected by beating Zhu Lin 2-0. The results of the two games were 23-21 and 21-19 respectively.

Xie Xingfang and Zhu Lin are quite comparable to each other in strength as the No. 2 and No. 3 players on the world rankings. Prior to the final, Zhu Lin qualified directly for the final as top-seeded Zhang Ning, her opponent in the semis, pulled out of the event due to injury, while Xie Xingfang defeated Zhu Jingjing to advance to the final.

In the beginning of the match, the two sides, familiar with each other, put up an excellent performance with fast switch between attack and defense. Trailing 8-11, Xie scored three points to tie the score at 11, but Zhu immediately counterattacked with consecutive smashes  and scored four points in succession. In such unfavorable situation Xie fought hard and forced Zhu into four errors to turn the score at 20-19. At this critical moment, both players made mistakes and it was only after Xie scored twice with fast attacks that she was able to take the first game with 23-21.

Xie opened the second game with a 4-0 lead. But Zhu quickly adjusted herself and fought back to equalize the score at 5 and 6. Following that, Zhu went on with her fierce attacking to lead 8-6 on Xie's errors. The two then took turns to tie the score at 12, 16, 17 and 19. Thanks to her composure and game experience Xie did not let the victory slip through her fingers.

After the women's singles final an awarding ceremony was held, with Wang Shoufa, secretary of the BJUT Party committee, and Fan Boyuan, President of both the BJUT and the event organizing committee, giving prizes to the three medalists.