KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 ― Men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia and four other Malaysian players continued to progress into the Swiss Open semi-finals yesterday.
Tournament second seed Zii Jia, lived up to expectations to dispose of India’s Sai Praneeth 21-14, 21-17 in 45 minutes at St Jakobshalle, Basel, according to the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
Barring any major upset, the 22-year-old Kedahan should continue his winning ways to the final as he is drawn to face world number 25, Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the last four stage.
Men’s doubles top seeds, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik also stepped into the semi-finals after edging Indonesians Leo Rolly Carnando-Daniel Marthin 21-18, 9-21, 21-16 to set up a clash with Mark Lamsfuss- Marvin Seidel of Germany.
Malaysia’s up and coming women’s doubles pair, Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah continued their winning rhythm to eliminate Amalie Magelund-Freja Ravn of Denmark, 21-19, 21-10.
The young pair will be put to test when they are scheduled to face senior compatriots Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean, the tournament’s second seeds, who defeated Canadians, Rachel Honderich-Kristen Tsai 22-20, 21-16.
In the mixed doubles category, fifth seeds Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing had to battle for one hour and 10 minutes to overcome Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Ashwini Ponnappa of India 21-17, 16-21, 21-18.
To enter the final, they have to overcome French pair, Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue.
However, 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalists Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying were stopped by Mathias Christiansen-Alexandra Boje of Denmark, 21-14, 19-21, 15-21 in the quarter-finals.
Other quarter-final results
(Note: Malaysians unless stated; [ ] denotes seeding)
Men’s doubles:
[2] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty (IND) bt Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi 12-21, 21-19, 21-12
[6] Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (DEN) bt Low Hang Yee-Ng Eng Cheong 21-17, 16-21, 21-13
Mixed doubles:
[6] Thom GICQUEL-Delphine DELRUE (FRA) bt [4] Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie 14-21, 21-14, 21-19. ― Bernama
