Zii Jia proves his earlier shock defeat to Taiwan’s Chia-hao just a blip


PETALING JAYA: Independent men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia proved that his shock defeat to Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao in the second round of the German Open a fortnight ago was just a blip.

The Malaysian looks to have put the loss to world No. 42 Chia-hao well and truly behind him after claiming a comprehensive 21-12, 21-17 win over the same opponent in a rematch in the quarter-finals of the Swiss Open in Basel on Friday.

The straightforward victory in just 37 minutes gave world No. 4 Zii Jia his second successive semi-finals spot after also reaching the last four of the All-England in Birmingham last week.

Prior to the All-England, the 24-year-old had been on a poor run of form that had seen him fail to get past the early rounds of six individual tournaments.

Zii Jia has a good opportunity to reach his first final of the year as he plays Japan’s world No. 37 Koki Watanabe in the last four.

Watanabe stunned Hong Kong’s world No. 19 Lee Cheuk Yiu 21-12, 21-15 in another last-eight tie.

Zii Jia’s last final was in the Denmark Open last October where he finished runner-up.

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Meanwhile, Badminton Association of Malaysia’s (BAM) Ng Tze Yong was forced to retire from his match against Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen while trailing 0-2 in the second game.

World No. 26 Tze Yong, who had lost the first game 11-21, suffered an inner thigh hamstring strain.

On his injury, singles coaching director Wong Choong Hann said: “Tze Yong had inflammation in his inner thigh hamstring and it became painful for him. He couldn’t lunge and reach drop shots.”

The injury, though, is not serious as Tze Yong will only need a week to recover.

World No. 6 Tien-chen will face Denmark’s world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen in the last four.

Axelsen had swept aside Frenchman Christo Popov 21-12, 21-17 in the quarter-finals.

RESULTS

(Malaysians Only)

Quarter-finals

Men’s singles: Lee Zii Jia bt Lee Chia-hao (Tpe) 21-12, 21-17; Chou Tien-chen (Tpe) bt Ng Tze Yong 21-11, 2-0 (ret).Men’s doubles: Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi bt Shohibul Fikri-Bagas Maulana (Ina) 16-21, 21-12, 21-19.

Mixed doubles: Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie bt Supak Jomkoh-Supissara Paewsampran (Tha) 21-18, 21-18; Robin Tabeling-Selena Piek (Ned) bt Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei 21-19, 19-21, 21-19.

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Independent , shuttler , Lee Zii Jia , Swiss Open

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