Beijing: Both China’s World No. 13 Shi Yuqi and Japan’s former World No. 1 Kento Momota were handed a tough route at the upcoming German Open which will be held in Mulheim, from March 7 to March 12.
Shi Yuqi and Kento Momota had met once this season in the first round of Indonesia Masters where Shi defeated Momota 21-18, 21-7. The face-off between Shi and Momota could be seen to be more important for Momota than Shi, as the current World No. 23 Japanese who is yet to regain his top form could capitalize on a strong showing at German Open to start climbing all the way back up in the world rankings.
The winner of this battle could potentially face Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the quarter-finals.
The top half of the men’s singles draw was relatively kind to the No. 1 seed, Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia. Lee who has never won the tournament will start his campaign against a qualifier and could meet World No. 18 Anders Antonsen of Denmark in the second round and World No. 12 Lakshya Sen of India in the quarter-finals.
In the women’s draw, No. 1 seed Akane Yamaguchi was handed a fair opener against Thailand’s World No. 32 Lalinrat Chaiwan. Should she advance all the way to the semi-final, Yagamuchi potentially faces a highly anticipated match against the Tokyo Olympic champion Chen Yufei of China.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s reigning men’s doubles World Champions, Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik were seeded top and had a bye in the first round. They will meet compatriots Man Wei Chong/Tee Kai Wun in the second round. They could potentially meet No. 4 seeds Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark or No. 7 seeds Choi Sol Gyu/Kim Won Ho in the semi-finals.
