Saarbrücken: A day after his arguably most exciting win of the tournament by erasing a 10-point deficit and coming back to beat Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen 21-19, 22-20, Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia did it again in the HYLO Open semi-final on Saturday, showing yet another never-say-die attitude to come back from 10-15 in the second game to beat former World No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth of India 21-19, 22-20.
“Srikanth and I played very well today, and it’s a very tough game,” said Lee after the match.
“We all know Srikanth is a very experienced player, this was the first time I faced Srikanth. I was prepared to play against him, and I am happy to be able to win the match,” added Lee.
“Srikanth is very skillful at the net, and I gave my very best effort trying to save every point.”
“Of course, I also utilized my attacking skill to my advantage today.”
“I believed I am getting better and better compared to playing Pablo Abian in the first round,” Lee was referring to his tough first-round win against Pablo Abian of Spain on Wednesday with the score 21-11, 21-23, 24-22.
“I lost to Loh Kean Yew in the first round of French Open last week, and he has been playing really well in this tournament. It’s going to be another tough game tomorrow, and I will prepare myself for the final,” said Lee about facing Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the final.
The World No. 39 Loh Kean Yew showed strong momentum to knock out the World No. 21 Lakshya Sen of India 21-18, 21-12 in 46 minutes in the semi-final.
Meanwhile, World No. 1 men’s pair Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo will set up an all Indonesian final with the 2019 World Junior Championships boys’ doubles champions – Leo Rolly Carnando/Daniel Marthin in the final.
In women’s singles, Yeo Jia Min of Singapore will fight Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand for the HYLO Open title while Chisato Hoshi/Aoi Matsuda will meet compatriots Rin Iwanaga/Kie Nakanishi in the women’s doubles final.
The much-anticipated clash between No. 1 seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand and No. 2 seeds Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktavianti of Indonesia in the mixed doubles final could turn out to be another intense battle on Sunday.
