Bangkok: Denmark’s World No. 4 Viktor Axelsen whom last Sunday became the first singles player to win three Super 1000 tournaments (2020 All England, YONEX Thailand Open, Toyota Thailand Open) in a single World Tour calendar year, was given a tough draw Tuesday for the upcoming 2020 BWF World Tour Finals.
Axelsen was drawn into Group A together with Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan, Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia, and Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia. He will meet Ginting while Lee will play Chou in the first group stage meetings on Wednesday.
In responding to the drawing results of the 2020 BWF World Tour Finals, the red-hot Axelsen who just came off from two consecutive Super 1000 titles in the last two weeks, pinned a short sentence on his Instagram, saying “Let’s go!”.
In fact, the draw for Group A BWF World Tour Finals 2020 was not much different for Axelsen from the 2019 edition, because Viktor Axelsen, Chou Tien Chen, and Anthony Ginting were also selected into the same group in 2019, the only difference was that Chen Long was replaced by Lee Zii Jia.
In 2019, Viktor Axelsen failed to advance to the knock out stage, because he was struggling with persistent back and leg pain and his condition was not 100% fit. He lost to Chen Long 17-21, 21-10, 17-21, then lost to Chou Tien Chen 21-12, 12-21, 15-21 and had to retire in the first set against Ginting when he was trailing by 6-13.
But in this edition, things are going to be very different. Viktor Axelsen has been in sizzling form since winning two consecutive titles at both the YONEX Thailand Open and Toyota Thailand Open in the last two weeks and he remained unbeaten in his last 28 matches. The Dane has become a heavy favorite to win the 2020 BWF World Tour Finals.
Meanwhile, following two disappointing results of the two recent Thai Open tournaments, Malaysia’s men’s singles head coach said Lee Zii Jia needed to focus on boosting self-confidence ahead of the BWF World Tour Final.
“The group is difficult but we will try our best,” said Hendrawan.
“Preparations for the World Tour Finals are more focused on tactics and strategies as well as increasing confidence as we have identified shortcomings in the previous two tournaments,” added Hendrawan.
Below is the draw for the group stages of the 2020 BWF World Tour Finals:
