Kuala Lumpur: National men’s singles champion Lee Zii Jia lived up to predictions when he booked his semi-final slot at the 2022 Denmark Open badminton tournament in Odense, early Saturday morning.
The fourth seed had to battle it out for 67 minutes in his quarter-finals match against eighth seeded Jonatan Christie of Indonesia at the Jyske Bank Arena before prevailing in 21-16, 18-21, 21-18.
The 2021 All England champion will meet seventh seeded Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the semi-finals after Kean Yew pulled off an upset by defeating world number one and host representative Viktor Axelsen, 21-17, 21-10.
Earlier, world men’s doubles champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik continued their winning streak when they also advanced to the semi-finals after defeating Indian pair, R.Satwiksairaj-Chirag Shetty, 21-16, 21-19.
In the last four, Aaron-Wooi Yik will meet world third ranked pair from Indonesia, Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, who overcame compatriots Leo Rolly Carnando-Daniel Marthin, 15-21, 22-20, 22-20.
Meanwhile, the national men’s pair of Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi also advanced to the semis after defeating Taiwanese pair, Lee Yang-Lu Chen, 18-21, 21-19, 21-13 in 63 minutes.
The eighth seeded pair will be up against Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto from Indonesia. The Indonesians beat Taiwanese pair, Lu Ching Yao-Yang Po Han in straight sets of 21-12, 21-15.
National mixed doubles Goh Soon Huat-Lai Shevon Jemie also created a sensation when they defeated second seeds Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino of Japan 21-18, 21-14 and will meet the Chinese pair, Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong in the semi-finals.
