Kuala Lumpur: In their 15th career showdown, one thing remained certain: Kento Momota and Viktor Axelsen for sure will put on a great game at the Malaysia Masters final on Sunday.
Top-seeded Kento Momota outlasted unseeded Lee Zii Jia 21-10, 21-19 at Axiata Arena on Saturday to reach the Malaysia Masters final, where he will seek a good beginning of the season by meeting No. 5 seed Viktor Axelsen for his first title of 2020.
After the semi-final defeat, Lee Zii Jia admitted that he had thrown everything at the World No. 1, but it’s hard to beat the World No. 1 from Japan despite the overwhelming support of local fans.
“There’s still a big gap between me and Momota. He was very calm and was in control of the game even though I narrowed the gap to 19-20 in the second set,” said Lee.
The Kedah-born player admitted that he was ready to move on and start focusing on the Indonesia Masters that starts next week.
“I’ll talk to my coach to see what else I need to be improved, and hope I can do better in Indonesia,” added Lee.
In mixed doubles, Malaysia’s Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying continued to struggle and lost their 7th consecutive head-to-head match against China’s World No. 2 Wang Yi Lyu/Huang Dong Ping in the semi-finals with 21-10, 21-13.
“It’s a little disappointing that we weren’t able to play our best,” said Chan.
Wang Yi Lyu/Huang Dong Ping will face No. 1 seeds Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong in the final.
