KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 – While Lee Zii Jia once again struggled but still made the quarter-finals in the Hylo Badminton Open in Saarbrucken, Germany, mixed doubles pair Chen Tang Jie-Peck Yen Wei were the show stealers as they dumped England’s Marcus Ellis-Lauren Smith in the second-round on Thursday.
Ranked 49 in the world, the Malaysian who have dished out some pleasant results in Europe, came back strongly from one game down to prevail 18-21, 21-11, 21-15 in 55 minutes over the All-England semi-finalists.
For a place in the semi-finals, Tang Jie-Yen Wei will face Thailand’s Supak Jomkoh-Supissara Paewsampran in the quarter today.
After scalping the English third seeds who are ranked No 7, confidence has soared for the Malaysians and are capable of stopping the Thais to continue their march in the Super 500 event that offers USD320,000 in prize money.
Two other pairs in the mixed doubles and one each in the men’s and women’s doubles were shown the exit.
Newly formed men’s doubles professionals Tan Kian Meng-Tan Wee Kiong fell to second seeds Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan 14-21, 18-21 while women’s doubles Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sien bowed out to fifth seeds Puttita Supajirakul-Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand 8-21, 6-21.
In the mixed doubles Hoo Pang Ron-Cheah Yee See were no match for top seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree with the Thais advancing to the quarter-finals with a 21-10, 21-19 win while Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie were bundled out by Denmark’s Niclos Nohr-Amalie Magelund 21-14, 21-15.
Zii Jia was made to slog for his 22-20 win in the first game before stopping Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen 21-16 in the 38 minutes he was on the court.
In the quarter-finals the second seeded Malaysian takes on hard hitting Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand. The Thai No 8 seed stopped India’s Sourabh Verma 21-13, 21-10 in the second round.
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