Reach for the stars: Indonesia’s Anthony Ginting plays a shot against Denmark’s Anders Antonsen during their second-round match. — AP
NOTHING is impossible for men’s singles star Anthony Ginting.
The Indonesian is out to end the dominance of Denmark’s world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen this year, starting with the Malaysian Open.
Axelsen has captured a whopping seven titles last year including the World Championships and season-ending World Tour Finals where he had denied world No. 4 Anthony in the final.
The Indonesian had come out second best in all his five meetings with the Dane last year. He has only beaten Axelsen four times in their past 14 encounters with his last win achieved at the 2020 Indonesian Masters.
Anthony is tired of playing the bridesmaid role.
“There’s no denying that Axelsen dominated last year by winning all the big tournaments but every other player also wants to win, including myself. This year, I will try harder to beat him,” said Anthony.
Anthony is also eyeing Axelsen’s No. 1 spot.
“I want to reach No. 1 in the world by end of this year. This is only possible if I manage to achieve better results,” he said.
“I need to be more consistent and play better in every match with the qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympics also coming up (in May).’’
Yesterday, the 26-year-old reached the quarter-finals of the Malaysian Open with a hard-fought 21-14, 17-21, 21-17 victory over Denmark’s world No. 30 Anders Antonsen to set up a match against Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan.
Axelsen, on the other hand, had an easy ride to the last eight after Liew Daren conceded a walkover due to a calf injury and the Dane will take on Kenta Nishimoto of Japan.
If both Anthony and Axelsen win, they will face off in the semi-finals and what a match it will be!
