Georgetown: Former world number one and top seed Lee Chong Wei eased past Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia in straight sets 21-19, 21-15 en route to the Malaysia Masters finals on Saturday. The victory also saw Lee extended his career winning streak against Sugiarto to 14-0.
Lee will give his junior Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin an ‘ultimate test’ on Sunday’s men’s singles final.
“Iskandar is playing very well. I hope he can maintain his momentum,” said Lee.
After almost turned his back on his badminton career last year, Zainuddin created a massive upset in the semi-finals when he held off the challenge of second seeded Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth 27-25, 21-9 in a 48 minutes battle.
“I see Lee play on television many times and this will be the first time I face him in a tournament. I will give my best,” said Zainuddin.
This will be Zainuddin’s first ever GP Gold final while Lee had won the tournament four times from 2009 to 2012, and will be seeking his fifth Malaysian Masters championship title.
In women’s competition, No. 3 seed P.V Sindhu of India managed to claw her way into the finals on Saturday afternoon after she fought from a set down to see off No. 1 seed Sung Ji Hyun of Korea 21-19, 12-21, 21-10 in 69 minutes. Sindhu will face Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland in the final.
Kirsty Gilmour continued her unexpected tournament run on Saturday by defeating No. 7 seed Yui Hashimoto 12-21, 21-18, 21-8 in 62 minutes.
A sold-out crowd is expected to pack the SPICE Stadium for Sunday’s finals, as the clash between Lee Chong Wei and Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin will be the first all-Malaysian final in international tournament since Lee Chong Wei took on Wong Choong Hann in 2010 in the same tournament.
