Scorching form: Leong Jun Hao defeated world No. 11 Kenta Nishimoto in straight games at the Indonesian Masters yesterday.
PETALING JAYA: Leong Jun Hao continued his fine run in the Indonesian Masters by stunning world No. 11 Kenta Nishimoto of Japan as independent shuttler Lee Zii Jia took a longer route to reach the second round in Jakarta yesterday.
World No. 37 Jun Hao looked fresh after a tough qualifying campaign on Tuesday as he secured a 21-17, 21-17 win in 46 minutes.
The Malaysian had complained about a back strain after going through two matches in less than six hours in the qualifiers but showed no ill-effects during his match.
Nishimoto had a 13-9 lead in the first game but Jun Hao never looked back once he levelled the score (13-13).
Jun Hao was delighted with the way he controlled the match against Nishimoto, which was his second win three matches. He will be cautious though against local favourite Anthony Ginting in a tough second round clash at the Istora Senayan today.
World No. 4 Ginting defeated Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand 21-15, 21-13 in a first-round match yesterday.
“Whatever I did on court materialised today and I was able to play the way I had prepared for this match,” said Jun Hao.
“I have to be better prepared against Ginting as it will not be easy to play him, more so on his home ground. I’ll give my best shot against him.”
Zii Jia was forced to work harder against the 31-year-old Srikanth as the Malaysian came from a game down to win 19-21, 21-14, 21-11 in 54 minutes.
He will take on Angus Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong in the second round today.
Angus, who is guided by former Malaysian singles coaching director Wong Choong Hann, has a 4-2 head-to-head record over Zii Jia.
Their match always brings some excitement as Zii Jia is trained by Angus’ former coach Wong Tat Meng.
He defeated Zii Jia in the Korean Open last year, which was Tat Meng’s first match in charge of Zii Jia.
Zii Jia avenged his defeat in his opening match of the Hangzhou Asian Games last year and will be aiming to keep his winning momentum against the Hong Kong shuttler.
Malaysia’s campaign in the women’s singles came to an end when Goh Jin Wei and K. Letshanaa both crashed out in the first round.
Jin Wei lost 9-21, 11-21 to world No. 8 Han Yue of China while Letshanaa lost 17-21, 12-21 to world No. 32 Putri Kusuma Wardana of Indonesia.
