KUALA LUMPUR – National men's singles ace, Lee Zii Jia was made to sweat before reaching the second round of the Hylo Open 2021 in Germany, yesterday.
Despite winning the first set 21-11 against Spanish veteran shuttler, Pablo Abian, the 2021 All England Champion failed to maintain the same momentum in the second and suffered a 21-23 defeat.
Pablo then forced Zii Jia to step up his gear before the latter moved on into the next round after winning the closely fought decider set, 24-22.
Zii Jia, seeded second in the tournament, will set up a clash against unseeded Irish player, Nhat Nguyen today, who defeated H.S. Prannoy of India, 16-21, 21-17, 21-7 in the first round.
Meanwhile, new professional duo, Tan Kian Meng-Tan Wee Kiong became Malaysia's sole survivor in men's doubles category as the pair eased past Japan's Takuto Inoue-Kenya Mitsuhashi, 21-10, 21-15.
However, a greater challenge awaits Kian Meng-Wee Kiong in the second round as they will lock horns against world number two, Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan after the Indonesian pair had earlier eliminated another Japanese duo, Mahiro Kaneko-Yunosuke Kubota, 21-15, 21-18.
In the mixed doubles category, Chen Tang Jie-Peck Yen Wei took 40 minutes to brush aside Taiwanese pair, Lee Jhe-Huei-Hsu Ya Ching, 18-21, 21-14, 21-14 to book a tie against England's Marcus Ellis-Lauren Smith after the third seeded pair saw off Jones Ralfy Jansen-Linda Efler of Germany, 21-9, 21-14. – Bernama, November 4, 2021
