Women’s doubles: Defending champions defeated by Li / Wang

The women’s doubles final brought back memories of last year’s Yonex Swiss Open: once again, two Chinese pairs faced off, and once again among them was the duo JIA Yi Fan/ZHANG Shu Xian, who had triumphed at the St. Jakobshalle in 2025. However, the current world number fours were unable to successfully defend their title. Having defeated their national team colleagues LIU Sheng Shu/TAN Ning in the 2025 final, JIA Yi Fan/ZHANG Shu Xian lost in the 2026 final to the newly formed pair LI Yi Jing/WANG Yi Duo (world number 209). After a match lasting 44 minutes, LI Yi Jing/WANG Yi Duo celebrated a 21-10, 22-20 victory over the second-seeded defending champions.

“We had more difficulties in the second set than in the first, but we overcame them. We managed to stay mentally strong and were prepared for long rallies. We tried to put into practice what we’d been training,” said the 24- and 21-year-old Chinese players after the final against their compatriots.

LI Yi Jing and WANG Yi Duo were competing together in a tournament for only the third time in their careers in Basel. Their first appearance came back in March 2023. This was followed by a break of just under three years. At their debut in 2026, two weeks earlier at the German Open (also an HSBC BWF World Tour Super 300 tournament), they had already reached the semi-finals. JIA Yi Fan, the 2024 Olympic champion (with CHEN Qing Chen), and ZHANG Shu Xian had reached the semi-finals the previous week at the All England Open Badminton Championships.

Pictured: LI Yi Jing and WANG Yi Duo