Muelheim: World No. 7 Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia survived a stern test from France’s World No. 64 Christo Popov on Thursday to reach the 2022 German Open quarter-finals.
Lee took the first set 21-13, but Popov played the game of his life, fended off a valiant comeback attempt by Lee when the Malaysian came from 14-17 to lead at 18-17. The French player held his nerve to reel off the next four points to clinch the second game 21-18.
The 23-year-old Malaysian proved his brilliance once more in the third set, rallying from 6-9 down to take the lead at 14-9. Lee blew away Popov 21-12 in the decider to romp into the German Open quarter-finals.
“It’s another tough game today, especially when I was leading 18 something in the second game, but Popov went on to win the game,” said Lee.
“Popov is a good player, he played very solid defense,” added Lee.
“In the decider, I was focusing more on the frontcourt, and I’m glad it worked,” explained Lee.
Lee will face China’s Zhao Jun Peng on Friday.
Meanwhile, the men’s singles No. 1 seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark extended his dominance in the men’s singles category on Thursday after recording a 21-17, 21-10 victory over World No. 32 Toma Junior Popov of France to reach the quarters. Toma Junior Popov is Christo Popov’s older brother.
Axelsen will meet Kidambi Srikanth of India in the last eight.
In men’s doubles, Malaysia’s World No. 11 Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi aced a tricky test over World No. 18 Ben Lane/Sean Vendy of England in the second round.
After winning the first game 21-15, the Malaysian pair was off to a slow start in the second game and decided to give up the game after trailing by a large margin to lose the second game 14-21.
Ong/Teo shook off the second set loss, performed the ultimate comeback to beat Lane/Vendy 21-17 to meet compatriots Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin next.
Goh/Izzuddin on the other hand, outlasted Joel Eipe/Daniel Lundgaard of Denmark 21-13, 21-14 on Thursday.
