Jakarta: Malaysia’s independent World No. 24 men’s pair Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi who defeated World No. 10 Han Cheng Kai/Zhou Hao Dong at the Malaysia Masters quarter-final last Thursday, repeated the feat in Indonesia Masters first round on Wednesday by overcoming the Chinese pair 21-18, 21-17.
Ong/Teo managed to level their career meeting record with Han/Zhou to 2-2 after Wednesday’s victory, and will play German pair Jones Ralfy Jansen/Peter Kaesbauer next.
The eighth-seeded World No. 9 Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik also defeated Indonesia’s Wahyu Nayaka Arya Pangkaryanira/Ade Yusuf Santoso 21-17, 22-20 to set up second round battle with Mathias Boe/Mads Conrad-Petersen of Denmark.
In men’s singles, China’s Lin Dan suffered his second first round exit of the year when he was outlasted by fifth seed and 2017 world champion Viktor Axelsen 12-21, 14-21. Another Dane, the defending champion Anders Antonsen, fought past Korea’s Son Wan Ho 21-10, 21-18.
However, Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia who was able to advance to the semi-finals of Malaysia Masters by defeating top-ranked players Anders Antonsen of Denmark and Shi Yuqi of China last week, was eliminated in the first round after falling to the hands of China’s Huang Yu Xiang 21-17, 21-23, 12-21.
Taiwan’s men’s No. 2 seed Chou Tien-chen also headed for the exit after going down to 21-12, 21-17 to Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu.
In the women’s singles, World No. 1 and last week’s Malaysia Masters champion Chen Yufei of China was knocked out after losing 21-18, 21-14 to Denmark’s Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt.
