KUALA LUMPUR, April 2 — World number one, Kento Momota of Japan made it to the second round of the Celcom Axiata Malaysia Open 2019 after being given a stiff fight by unseeded Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark here today.
Momota took an hour to beat Jorgensen, 20-22, 21-13, 21-11 in the men’s singles opening match at the Axiata Arena, KL Sports City, Bukit Jalil here.
He is scheduled to play against Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the next match on Thursday.
Christie easily defeated Brice Leverdez of France 21-12, 21-12.
Meanwhile, world number two, Shi Yuqi also struggled to defeat unseeded player, Sameer Verma of India, 22-20, 21-23, 21-12 in another first-round match. He will meet Anders Antonsen of Denmark next.
“The first round is always tough, in the second set I felt overstretched. I was supposed to win but was too rushed. Very tough game today, because the opponent did not give up and played very good today,” Shi Yuqi told reporters after the match.
His teammate Chen Long only took 35 minutes to win his opening match against Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus of Denmark, 21-13, 21-9 and is set to face Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand. For the record, Chen Long lost to Wangcharoen in the first round match of the Malaysia Open last year.
Wangcharoen moved into the second round after easily defeating professional player Liew Daren of Malaysia, 21-10, 21-15 in another first-round match.
“I’m glad to win but still need to get used with the wind conditions in the court. I believe the next match will be a tough game. I have one-day rest and I hope I can play my best game on Thursday,” he told reporters. — Bernama
