Jakarta: Anthony Sinisuka Ginting emerged victorious from another titanic clash with Lee Zii Jia to move a step closer to capturing his third Indonesia Masters title this coming Sunday.
Ginting who won 2018, and 2020 Indonesia Masters, fought through the rubber game before winning the quarter-final match 18-21, 21-16, 21-15 against the World No. 5 Lee in 69 minutes.
“It feels good to be able to advance to the semi-finals. Today, I was able to overcome many shots from Lee Zii Jia. My confidence is also increasing,” said Ginting.
The World No. 6 Ginting was playing with a quick tempo and accurate smashes to the sidelines to win the match in front of a loud home crowd.
“I tried to force Lee Zii Jia to follow my rhythm, and made him uncomfortable with my playing style,” continued Ginting. The victory was Ginting’s 5th victory in their 6th head-to-head career meeting.
Ginting will face World No. 1 seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, the No. 8 seed Loh Kean Yew from Singapore will take on No. 3 seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei in another men’s semi-finals.
In the men’s doubles quarter-finals, both Malaysian pairs – Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik and Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin were stopped in the quarter-finals after losing to their respective opponents.
At one point, Chia/Soh were leading against Liang Wei Kang/Wang Chang of China 13-11 in the decider. However, they allowed Liang/Wang to reel off 6 consecutive points to ultimately falter 21-16, 13-21, 17-21 to the hands of the Chinese pair.
For Goh and Izzuddin, they managed to push the World No. 1 pair Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia to the limit before conceding 21-10, 11-21, 18-21. After the match, Sukamuljo collapsed to the floor momentarily before standing up to thank the home crowd.
Gideon/Sukamuljo will play Liang/Wang, while another Indonesian pair – the No. 5 seeds Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto outlasted Tokyo Olympics gold medalists – Lee Yang/Wang Chi-lin of Chinese Taipei on Friday 21-15, 21-18 and will take on unseeded Chinese pair – He Ji Ting/Zhou Hao Dong for a ticket to the final.
