KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 – After his semi-final effort last year, Lee Zii Jia went one step further this time to reach the final of this year’s All-England when he downed Dutchman Mark Caljouw 21-13-, 21-17 in 44 minutes at Arena Birmingham on Saturday.
In the final, which is on Sunday, the 22-year Malaysian will face either defending champion Viktor Axelsen or Anders Antonsen who face each other in the all-Denmark second-final later in the day.
Zii Jia who ousted World No 1 and two-time world champion Kento Momota of Japan 21-16, 21-19 in the quarter-finals, however, looked tired somewhat against Caljouw but did enough to reach the final.
”This happens after you play a tough match (against Momota) but he still did well against the Dutch player,” said coach Datuk Tey Seu Bok after the match.
Zii Jia, who also reached the semi-finals in the Yonex Swiss Open, has shown vast improvement in his game after a disappointing run in Bangkok when competing in the Yonex Thailand Open and the Toyota Thailand Open. He also lost all his matches in the World Tour Finals in Bangkok.
Meanwhile, it was the end of the road for third seeds Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying in the mixed doubles. The Malaysians went down to unseeded Yuki Kaneko-Misaki Matsutomo of Japan in the semi-finals 14-21, 20-22 in 42 minutes.
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