It had been a while since Carolina Marin contested a top-tier final.

Marin’s last title bout at an HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750 or above event was the YONEX French Open 2022, when she beat Akane Yamaguchi in the semifinal before falling to He Bing Jiao in a thrilling final.

Excepting that French Open, it was at the Asian Leg in January 2021 that the Spaniard was last at her imperious best, when she made three finals in three successive weeks – winning the first two: the YONEX Thailand Open and the TOYOTA Thailand Open, both Super 1000 events. A second major knee injury later that year put paid to her hopes of defending her Olympic gold in Tokyo, while also ruling her out of the World Championships on home turf.

In the meantime, the ‘Big Four’ – Akane Yamaguchi, An Se Young, Tai Tzu Ying and Chen Yu Fei — had become the dominant fgures in women’s singles, invariably making at least the semifinals of all events they played.

But Marin’s form last week, at the KAPAL API GROUP Indonesia Open 2023, showed that the former No.1 still has the qualities of her prime: the speed, the unrelenting attack, the never-say-die attitude. These attributes were well in evidence during a cracker of an opening game against Tai Tzu Ying in their quarterfinal.

Tai didn’t do much wrong in that game; Marin was outstanding. A couple of errors from Tai were all it took for Marin to surge ahead, and the momentum shifted in her favour in the second.

Even Tai, normally reticent when it comes to evaluating opponents, was impressed: “In the end I couldn’t catch her tempo, her attack was very good in the second game. I feel that after her return from injury she is still quite fast; her attack has more details.”

“It feels great,” said Marin. “I’m really happy to reach the semifinals, but I’m happier because I did a good performance and this is the way I want to keep going. It was really important to play at high pace, because she’s so good in deception. Sometimes you have to accept that you will follow the shuttle because she’s so good with all the strokes, but mainly I wanted to keep the focus on my gameplan and also to keep the shuttle going on court. We had to play long rallies, I was ready for that.”

Was she back to her best?

“If I play like today, I’m in the right way.”

Against Ratchanok Intanon in the semifinals, Marin scored her most comprehensive win yet in their 13 meetings – a 21-12 21-11 result that gave her a shot at her first Indonesia Open crown.

The final, a battle between two Olympic champions, was also a contrast in styles – Chen Yu Fei’s defensive solidity versus Marin’s unceasing attack. And while the Spaniard did have the Chinese under pressure, the stability of Chen’s game proved too hard to crack on the day.

Still, Marin couldn’t have been happier about her own progress. “For sure I’m proud of myself,” she said.

“I’m happy for sure, to play a final is always a good feeling, because you’ve won tough games against top players and this is what I had, a tough draw. I’m not happy I couldn’t win, but I need to keep with my side, and I showed to myself and to everyone that if I keep working hard, and if I keep my focus in the right way, I’m in good shape. This is what I want to keep with me. It’s time to go back to my country, prepare for a few days for the European Games, and be ready for the World Championships.”

Given the way she’d played, was Marin confident of breaking the spell of the Big Four?

She smiled at the question.

“We need to be realistic. Chen has playing good for a long time. She’s younger than me. I’m getting older and my physical condition is quite okay. I also have two surgeries in my knees that she doesn’t have. This week I showed a different performance and I want to tell everyone that I’m ready to keep working hard and to come back in my best shape.”