Marching forward: Malaysia's men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia reaches Australian Open quarters. — IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The Star
PETALING JAYA: Lee Zii Jia beat Soong Joo Ven in a battle between two professional badminton players to march into the men's singles quarter-finals at the Australian Open.
In a match that lasted for 41 minutes on Thursday (June 13), Zii Jia took his time to settle down before beating Joo Ven 21-18, 21-14 in the second round to set up a match against Kenta Nishimoto of Japan in the last eight match-up.
On paper, Zii Jia has a better record against the Japanese, having beaten Nishimoto eight out of their 11 meetings.
It was a day of mixed dortune for doubles player Yap Roy King.
Roy King and partner Wan Arif Wan Junaidi beat Ooi Yi Hern-Steven Stallwood of Australia and Canada 21-10, 21-9 to set up a meeting against Chen Zhi-ray-Lin Yu-chieh of Taiwan next.
Choong Hon Jian-Mohd Haikal Nazri and Kang Khai Xing-Aaron Tai also made it to the men's doubles last eight.
Roy King and partner Valeree Siow however, faltered in the mixed doubles after losing 21-17, 19-21, 21-23 to Reginald Lee Chun Hei-Ng Tsz Yau of Hong Kong.
The other mixed pairs through to the quarters are Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing and Hon Jian-Go Pei Kee, who will face each other for a place in the semis.
