Soo Teck Zhi will be meeting former world No. 3 Simon Santoso of Indonesia in the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold.
PASIR GUDANG: Former Asian Junior champion Soo Teck Zhi scored his first upset win in senior ranks when he dumped professional Mohd Arif Abdul Latif to reach the men’s singles quarter-finals in the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold at the Pasir Gudang Municipal Stadium.
The 19-year-old Teck Zhi showed great aggression when he ended his former senior Arif’s gallant run in the GP Gold with a convincing 21-12, 21-15 win.
Arif had beaten top seed Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand a a day ago.
After Thursday’s win, Teck Zhi vowed to give his next opponent, former world No. 3 Simon Santoso of Indonesia, a run for his money.
“Everyone is looking for the next Lee Chong Wei and I hope to be the one. Give me another one or two years,” said a confident Teck Zhi.
While Teck Zhi breezed into the last eight, second seed Chong Wei Feng had to dig deep to fend off a fiery challenge from Singapore’s Derek Wong Zi Liang to survive another day.
He battled for 56 minutes for a 21-16, 13-21, 21-19 win.
Wei Feng, who will take on the winner of the match between India’s R.M.V. Gurusaidutt and Indonesian Wisnu Yuli Prasetyo, said: “Derek really played well. I have not seen him in this form for some time. I had to come through a tough battle today.”
It was however, all over for Goh Soon Huat when he went down tamely 16-21, 12-21 to Chou Tien-chen of Taiwan.
Meanwhile, in the women’s singles, Tee Jing Yi continued to keep the flag flying when she made it to the quarter-finals with a sensational 21-17, 21-18 win over Sayaka Sato of Japan to set up a meeting with Hsu Ya-ching of Taiwan.
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