SHAH ALAM, April 10 — Lee Chong Wei anticipates a “patient” final against Chen Long after defeating Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen 21-7, 21-14 in the semifinals of the Axiata Celcom Malaysia Open Superseries at Malawati Stadium yesterday.
Chong Wei, who had lost in the first and second rounds of the All-England and India Opens last month, was in fine form against the Dane whom he has now beaten 15 times in 16 encounters.
The world No 4 who is targeting an 11th Malaysia Open title, foresees a game of cat-and-mouse against the Chinese shuttler, who beat him at the World Championships final in Jakarta last August.
“He is a tall player and has good court coverage. I must be calculated in my attacks. Our past records will not matter as each match is different. My plus point is the backing of the home crowd,” said Chong Wei, who missed last year’s edition as he was completing a backdated eight month doping ban after failing a drug test at the 2014 World Championships in Denmark.
The Penangite who won his last two encounters against Chen Long at the China and Hong Kong Opens last year, trails 12-11 in their head-to-head meetings.
World No 1 Chen Long admitted he was “lucky” to check into the final after recovering from an abysmal first game to beat Indonesian prodigy Jonatan Christie 8-21, 21-19, 21-14.
“I was fortunate to win. If he hadn’t made mistakes at the end of the second game, I could have lost,” said Chen Long.
Some Chinese shuttlers had complained of biased umpiring from the officials throughout the tournament, and Chen Long said: “The umpire can have a huge influence. I am hoping they let us do our job and give the fans a memorable final.”
