Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei returns a shot against Indonesia's Tommy Sugiarto during their men's singles final match at the BWF World Superseries Finals badminton competition in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday. Photo: IC

Badminton world No.1 Lee Chong Wei on Sunday became the first player to win four titles in the season-ending BWF World Superseries Finals when he crushed Indonesia's Tommy Sugiarto.

It is the Malaysian ace's seventh Superseries title this year, the most he has ever won in a calendar year, following victories in South Korea, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Japan and Hong Kong.

The Olympic silver ­medalist, who won this tournament from 2008 to 2010, easily beat Sugiarto 21-10, 21-12 in the men's singles final on home turf.

Lee took a quick 4-0 lead before Sugiarto earned his first point and later went on a run of eight straight points from 5-2 for a 13-2 lead.

Victory was never in doubt after Lee opened up an 18-4 lead. He slowed down toward the end before closing out the first game 21-10.

The second game followed a similar pattern, with Lee winning points at will.

Lee, 31, said he ­believed he could maintain his form into the next year.

"To me, age is just a number. I don't see why I can't continue as I still have the desire to win titles," he said.

"I still love training as hard, and 2014 is going to be a big year with ­several team events as well."

Lee's rival Lin Dan, who did not participate in the Super­series Finals this year, won in 2011, while last year Chen Long, also from China, triumphed.

Earlier on Sunday, China's Li Xuerui won the women's singles title after defeating Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying 21-8, 21-14. Li also won the title last year.

Christinna Pedersen and ­Kamilla Rytter Juhl of ­Denmark became the first ­European ­winners of the ­women's doubles when they defeated fourth-­seeded Chinese pair Ma Jin and Tang Jinhua 21-19, 21-12.

China's Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang triumphed in the last three years.

On a roll, Pedersen teamed up with Joachim Fischer Nielsen in the mixed doubles to defeat world champions Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei of ­China 12-21, 21-19, 21-10. The Dane became the first ­player in ­history to win two ­titles in the same Super­series Finals.

The $500,000 Superseries Finals bring together the top eight performers in each of the five categories based on points earned from 12 Superseries tournaments.

The men's and women's singles champions ­pocket $40,000 each with the runners-­up collecting $20,000.

The doubles champions earn $42,000 while the losing finalists receive $20,000.

AFP - Global Times