Badminton: Zii Jia plays it nice and slow to overcome Guangzu

PETALING JAYA: A calm and calculated Lee Zii Jia remained as the sole Malaysian survivor in the China Masters after storming confidently into the quarter-finals in Shenzhen yesterday.

If local favourite Lu Guangzu was planning to secure a win in front of his home crowd in the second round, it was just not possible as Zii Jia pulled off an impressive 21-10, 21-12 victory in 40 minutes.

It was sweet revenge for Zii Jia after falling to Guangzu in the first round of the Malaysian Masters in May.

Zii Jia was the only Malaysian to survive the last-eight hurdle on a day when men’s doubles pairs Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun were eliminated by their respective Chinese rivals.

Aaron-Wooi Yik were beaten 25-27, 21-18 , 17-21 by He Jiting-Ren Xiangyu while Wei Chong-Kai Wun lost 21-17, 11-21, 13-21 to Liu Yuchen-Ou Xuanyi in the second round.

As for Zii Jia, the performance was a relief after losing in the second round of the Japan Masters in Kumamoto last week.

The independent shuttler said patience was the key to beating Guangzu.

“I was just patient on court and cut down on unforced errors and that gave me the advantage today. This is my last tournament for the year and I want to enjoy as much as I can,” said Zii Jia.

“I’ve not been to many finals this year, so I would like to go as far as I can.”

Zii Jia can fancy his chances against Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto in the last eight today as the Malaysian has won six of their previous eight clashes.

Nishimoto had toppled world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand 21-15, 21-23, 21-10 en route to the last eight.

Meanwhile, Aaron-Wooi Yik admitted that Japan Masters champions Jiting-Xiangyu managed to dictate the pace in the match that lasted for 75 minutes.

“They (Jiting-Xiangyu) player very well and were in control of the match. We were not in our best form and we committed several forced errors,” said Aaron.

“We need to be more focused on court and work harder to rectify our errors in order to play better in the World Tour Finals (Dec 17-21).”

Wooi Yik said that Jiting-Xiangyu have improved a lot since the last time the two pairs met in the quarter-finals of the Denmark Open in Odense last month where the Malaysians won.

“This pair are attacking much more and are better all round players. We need to analyse more as they are a new pair,” said Wooi Yik.

Wei Chong-Kai Wun gave a tough resistance to the world No. 8 Yuchen-Xuanyi before bowing out 21-17, 11-21, 13-21 in 53 minutes.

In the women’s singles second round, Goh Jin Wei lost 9-21, 16-21 to Olympic champion Chen Yufei of China.

RESULTS

Malaysians unless stated

Second round

Men’s singles: Lee Zii Jia bt Lu Guangzu (Chn) 21-10, 21-12.

Men’s doubles: He Jiting-Ren Xiangyu (Chn) bt Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik 27-25, 18-21, 21-17; Liu Yuchen-Ou Xuanyi (Chn) bt Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun 17-21, 21-11, 21-13.

Women’s singles: Chen Yufei (Chn) bt Goh Jin Wei 21-9, 21-16.