Kuching: As expected, tournament favorite Lee Hyun-Il of South Korea cruised into the men’s singles final of Maybank Malaysia Kuching International Challenge at Stadium Perpaduan on Saturday.
The top seed dashed Malaysia’s 2011 world junior champion Zulfadli Zulkiffli hopes of progressing further in the competition by beating him 21-17, 21-7 in just 31 minutes.
Malaysia’s former international Tan Chun Seang came back from one set down to book his final ticket after breaking the resistance from Ronald Susilo of Singapore 14-21, 21-18, 21-19 in 52 minutes.
“I’m very tired because I’ve played five rubber games in a row. Lee Hyun-Il is in good form and I’m expecting a tough game in the final,” said Chun Seang.
In the men’s doubles, former BAM players Chow Pak Chuu-Mak Hee Chun powered past Japan’s Takuto Inoue-Yuki Kaneko 24-22, 21-17 to make their first final appearance as a pair on Sunday. The Malaysian duo that started playing together in March will play Taiwanese Lin Chia-yu-Wu Hsiao-lin on Sunday.
Here are other matches on Sunday:
Women’s doubles
Ayane Kurihara-Naru Shinoya (Japan) vs Maretha Dea Giovani- Rosyita Eka Putri Sari (Indonesia)
Women’s singles
Gregoria Mariska (Indonesia) vs Chen Jiayuan (Singapore)
Mixed doubles
Hee Yong Kai Terry-Tan Wei Han (Singapore) vs Hafiz Faisal-Shella Devi Aulia (Indonesia)
