Badminton: North Harbour Open

The top seeds justified their rankings by winning their singles titles today.

Local player John Moody beat Andrew Halliday, of Auckland, in a tough men's final 15-7, 15-12.

Li Xu, a former Chinese national squad member playing for Waitakere, easily accounted for New Zealand Commonwealth Games medallist Rebecca Gordon 11-3, 11-2 in the women's final.

The women's doubles final was won by Rebecca Gordon, who teamed up with North Harbour's Linda Wu to beat Gordon's sister, Nicole, and Xu in the closest final of the tournament 15-13, 3-15, 15-3.

Top seeds Halliday and Craig Cooper won the men's doubles over Games medallist Chris Blair and former Kiwi player Jarrod King 15-5, 15-6.

Phil Horne and Richard Purser, with a combined age of over 100 and numerous national titles, lost in the men's doubles semis by Halliday and Cooper, Purser's nephew.