Singapore: World No. 47 Ng Tze Yong reached the Singapore Open quarter-finals on Thursday with a straight-sets defeat of World No. 15 Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong.
Ng, who appeared to have switched his playing style from more a defensive way of playing to be more aggressive and more patient, triumphed 21-15, 21-13 in 33 minutes.
Next up for the 22-year-old Malaysia will clash against Indonesian and World No. 6 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting for the first time in his young badminton career.
“I played better than yesterday’s match. For the quarter-final match, I don’t want to think too much because I just want to stay focused and get ready for a tough match,” said Ng.
Ginting who won the bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, advanced to the quarter-finals after beating Taiwan’s Li Chun Yi 21-12, 19-21, 21-16.
Meanwhile, Singapore’s reigning World Champion – Loh Kean Yew also made the quarter-finals when he outlasted Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia 21-13, 21-17. Loh will meet Li Shi Feng of China on Friday.
In men’s doubles, four Malaysian pairs – Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi, Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin, Goh V Shem/Low Juan Shen, and Arif Junaidi/Mohd Haikal have all stranded in the second round after losing at the hands of their respective opponents.
Despite the disappointment in men’s doubles, three Malaysian mixed doubles pairs successfully cruised into the quarter-finals.
The No. 7 seeds Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai who won the 2018 Singapore Open, defeated Rinov Rivaldy/Pitha Haningtyas Mentari of Indonesia 10-21, 21-18, 21-10 in the second round and are scheduled to meet No. 4 seeds Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Suet from Hong Kong next.
In another mixed doubles action, Malaysia’s World No. 123 Chen Tang Jie/Valeree Siow managed to pull off a brilliant second-round match against Lee Chun Hei/Ng Tsz Yau of Hong Kong 21-13, 21-7, and will clash with Thailand’s No. 1 seeds, Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai for a ticket to the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, World No. 125 Hoo Pang Ron/Toh Ee Wei produced a surprise when they beat World No. 13 Mathias Christiansen/Alexandra Boje of Denmark 21-11, 21-19 to advance to the quarter-finals and will next meet Chinese pair, Guo Xin Wa/Zhang Shu Xian.
