KEY POINTS:
A new star in the world of badminton emerged to take the men's singles title at the US$50,000 ($68,000) New Zealand Open, and a former star came back to take the women's title.
The men's final was between two unseeded players: Andre Tedjono from Indonesia, ranked 70 in the world and 20 years old, and Choong Hann Wong from Malaysia, ranked 35. Wong is a former world No 1 and a finalist at the world championships four years ago but on the comeback from injury.
Wong won the first game without much trouble. But in the second his younger opponent stepped up the tempo and Wong started making a few uncharacteristic errors.
But his trademark left-handed smash didn't desert him, hitting speeds of 250km/h.
Tedjono won the second game 21-18 and then held his nerve in the third 21-14 for his first victory at this level.
Tedjono has had a great run of wins over the past two weeks.
At the US$200,000 Indonesian Open in Jakarta, he reached the quarters as a qualifier, scoring a win over world No 10 Kenneth Jonassen in the second round.
Tedjono's next tournament is a small event in Vietnam with prize money of just US$5000.
In the women's final, Athens Olympic bronze medallist Mi Zhou, who had played limited matches before the tournament, scored a surprisingly easy win over tournament fourth seed Chie Umezu of Japan.
"Umezu always defends, I knew I had to attack," Zhou said. "After the Olympics I had a big break with injury and then switching from China to Hong Kong. I'm so happy to win, it will help me fight my way back up the rankings."
The crowd rocked the foundations of the badminton hall during the men's doubles, chanting for Hong Kong or Malaysia, and the players responded with one of the more enthralling contests of the tournament.
The Malaysian pairing of Chong Ming Chan and Thien How Hoon won three games, 14-21, 22-20, 21-11, over the world No 11 team and top seeds Albertus Njoto and Yohan Wiratama.
Chan was the key ingredient in the final. He won gold in doubles with another partner at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games last year and at Manchester four years earlier.
His experience counted as he helped lift his younger partner.
In the women's final, the unseeded Japanese duo Ikue Tatani and Aya Wakisaka beat Indonesia's Meiliana Jauhari and Shendy Irawati in three games.
The mixed doubles were won by sixth-seeded Indonesians Lita Nurlita and Devin Fritriawan over seventh seeded fellow Indonesians Anggun Nugroho and Nitya Maheswari in straight games.
