Muelheim: Men’s No. 5 seed Lee Zii Jia and unseeded men’s doubles pair – Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin have breezed into the 2022 German Open semis, while the reigning men’s doubles world champions – Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi of Japan suffered shock upsets in the last 16 on Friday.
Lee dispatched Zhao Jun Peng of China in straight sets at the Westenergie Sporthalle arena 21-12, 21-18. The Malaysian is set to battle Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand on Saturday for a chance at the men’s final.
“I just try to play my best every match,” said Lee.
“Thanks to all the fans who are supporting me, hope they can keep supporting me until the final, maybe?” added Lee.
Lee held a 3-2 career meeting advantage against Vitidsarn. But Vitidsarn was the winner the last time they met when the Thai player defeated Lee 21-18, 21-18 in the semi-final of the 2021 BWF World Tour Finals.
In another men’s quarter-finals, after winning the first game against World No. 11 Kidambi Srikanth of India 21-10, World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark avoided a third set by saving two game-points, coming from 19-20, 20-21 to take the second game 23-21.
“Srikanth upped his game a lot, it was a lot harder for me to control the shuttle in the second game,” said Axelsen.
“It was really nice to have a game like the second set so that I can fire on all cylinders and started getting into the tournament mood again, and I am enjoying it so far,” added Axelsen.
Axelsen will meet the trainee at his training camp in Dubai, World No. 12 Lakshya Sen in the semi-finals.
“I am going to enjoy the food and take some rest after the game, and will be all in tomorrow,” said Axelsen about tomorrow’s semi-final against Lakshya Sen.
The 2022 German Open has already produced several major upsets in the first three days, and the upsets continued on day four of the tournament. The men’s doubles No. 5 seeds Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark shocked reigning world champions and No. 1 seeds Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi 26-24, 19-21, 23-21 in a grueling 72 minutes match to meet Liu Yu Chen/Ou Xuan Yi of China on Saturday.
In an all-Malaysian men’s doubles quarter-final, World No. 17 Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin also pulled off another upset to beat World No. 11 Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi. Goh/Izzuddin will take on He Ji Ting/Zhou Hao Dong of China for a spot in the final.
