Odense: Lee Zii Jia began his bid for the 2022 Denmark Open title by making quick work of Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands with a 21-15, 21-10 win to advance to the second round on Tuesday.
The World No. 3 Lee will take on World No. 15 Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan on Wednesday.
Lee Zii Jia vs. Mark Caljouw in 2022 Denmark Open first round:
Singapore’s World No. 5 Loh Kean Yew who arrived in Denmark one week earlier to train with Lee Zii Jia and other players from the Denmark team, put together a resilient match by coming from 16-20 in the second game to beat World No. 36 Sitthikom Thammasin of Thailand 21-13, 22-20. Loh will take on World No. 11 Kidambi Srikanth of India next.
In men’s doubles, Malaysia’s World No. 9 Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi survived a spirited challenge from China’s 2022 Korea Masters runners-up (Super 500) and the Japan Open champions (Super 750) – Wang Chang/Liang Weikeng of China, beating the young men’s doubles pair 21-18, 22-20 to play another Chinese pair – Liu Yu Chen/Ou Xuan Yi in the next round.
Meanwhile, the Tokyo Olympics men’s doubles gold medalist – Lee Yang who was paired with his new partner – Lu Chen, walked off the court victorious as they outlasted Malaysia’s World No. 10 Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin 21-18, 21-14. Lee/Lu will take on World No. 23 Jeppe Bay/Lasse Mølhede of Denmark in the second round.
On the other hand, the world No. 23 men’s pair from Denmark, pulled off the biggest upset on day 1 of the 2022 Denmark Open when they defeated World No. 1 Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi of Japan 21-15, 21-14.
