Zii Jia reaches semis in Denmark Open, joy in doubles too

Lee Zii Jia reached Denmark Open semis

PETALING JAYA: Lee Zii Jia stayed steady to march into the men's singles semi-finals of the Denmark Open to set up a match against Loh Kean Yew of Singapore.

Independent shuttler Zii Jia put up a good fight to beat Jonatan Christie of Indonesia 21-16, 18-21, 21-18 in a 67-minute quarter-final match on Friday in Odense.

Former world champion Kean Yew took only 30 minutes to beat home favourite and top seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark 21-17, 21-10 in another last eight battle.

Zii Jia said the key to his win was his calm approach.

"The decider could have gone either way but I controlled my emotions and stayed patient," said Zii Jia.

"Jonatan's pace was super fast and he dominated at the front court, forcing me to lift the shuttle but I kept calm during the crucial stage. I'm ready for my next opponent."

Zii Jia has a better record against Kean Yew, having beaten the Singaporean in four out of their six outings.

The other semi-finals will be between Shi Yuqi of China and Kodai Naroaka of Japan.

It was also a glorious day for Malaysia in the men's doubles as reigning world champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi made it to the semi-finals.

But they have Indonesian pairs as their obstacles in the last four.

Aaron-Wooi Yik defeated India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty 21-16, 21-19 to set up a meeting with Marcus Fernaldi-Kevin Sanjaya.

Yew Sin-Ee Yi fought brilliantly to beat Lee Yang-Lu Chen of Taiwan 18-21, 21-19, 21-13 in the quarter-finals. They will play Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto next.

Earlier, Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie had upset Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino of Japan 21-18, 21-14 to set up a match against Zheng Siwei=-Huang Yaqiong of China.