Jeonju City: The Korea Masters GPG continued full steam ahead Thursday with the last remaining Malaysian player Zulfadli Zulkiffli bowed out in the third round of men’s singles.
Zulkiffli couldn’t grind out a win against No. 4 seed Lee Dong Keun of Korea when he was crushed by the Korean 21-13, 21-8 in 39 minutes. Lee enjoyed 3-0 head-to-head meeting record against Zulkiffli after the win.
Facing Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games men’s singles gold medalist Shi Yuqi, men’s No. 2 seed Lee Hyun-il was made to work for his place in the quarter-finals. Lee had to fight back from a set down to shake off Shi 21-18, 17-21, 21-9 in 65 minutes.
No. 1 men’s pair Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong of Korea prevailed in a close straight set match against Huang Kaixiang/Wang Sijie of China. As the tight first set slowly progressed, Lee/Yoo took control and flew by the young Chinese pair 25-23. The Koreans looked poised in the second set, taking an 11-6 lead to eventually en route to a 21-19 second set win in 39 minutes.
Lee/Yoo will play Lee Jhe-Huei/Lee Yang of Chinese Taipei in the quarter-finals on Friday.
The mixed doubles second round saw top seeds Ko Sung Hyun/Kim Ha Na Korea defeated Japanese pair Yuki Kaneko/Shizuka Matsuo 21-10, 21-15 to set up a quarter-finals clash against another Japanese pair Akira Koga/Koharu Yonemoto in the quarter-finals on Friday.
