Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s World No. 37 Leong Jun Hao battled hard in the first round of Malaysia Masters to narrowly defeat Chinese player Lei Lan Xi with scores of 13-21, 23-21, 21-12, securing a spot in the round of 16 in a match that lasted 81 minutes.
Highlights of Leong Jun Hao vs. Lei Lanxi in the first round of the 2024 Malaysia Masters:
This was the second encounter between Leong and the world’s 34th-ranked Lei Lan Xi. They met last October at the Korea Masters, where Lei Lan Xi defeated Leong 2-0.
Leong will meet World No. 6 Li Shifeng of China next.
Another Malaysian player and last week’s Thailand Open champion Lee Zii Jia, created a sensational comeback to advance to the second round of the Malaysia Masters.
Appearing as the fifth seed, Lee faced off against China’s World No. 40, Zhao Jun Peng, in the first round and was surprised with a 19-21 loss in the first set.
However, strong support from the fans at the Axiata Arena sparked Lee’s resurgence as he won the next two sets 21-11, 21-14 to advance to the round of 16.
Lee Zii Jia is currently on a mission to clinch his second title of the season after winning the Thailand Open in Bangkok last Sunday.
The former Asian champion will face India’s player, Kiran George, for a spot in the quarterfinals in the second round.
In men’s doubles, Malaysia’s World No. 4 Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik faced a tough challenge in the first round against the young South Korean duo, Kim Young Hyuk/Wang Chan, but managed to defeat them in straight sets with scores of 21-18, 22-20 in 39 minutes, successfully advancing to the next round.
In a post-match interview, Chia/Soh pointed out that they made many unnecessary mistakes in their first encounter with the South Korean pair.
“They (Kim Young Hyuk/Wang Chan) didn’t pose too many problems for us; it’s just that we made too many unnecessary mistakes ourselves, and our defense wasn’t very good either. Fortunately, we managed to regain our focus when leading, which is also something we need to learn from,” they said.
Chia added, “I think this is also a great learning opportunity for us, to learn how to remain calm and chase points when behind, and how to handle pressure when leading.”
The No. 1 seeds will take on Chen Bo Yang/Liu Yi of China in the second round.
