KUALA LUMPUR: National men’s singles professional ace Lee Zii Jia suffered another early exit when he fell 21-16, 20-22, 13-21 to Hong Kong’s Angus Ng Ka Long in the second round of the 2023 Indonesia Masters yesterday.
The second-seeded Zii Jia got off to a great start at the Istora Senayan in Jakarta when he won the first game before losing a closely-fought second to allow the unseeded Hong Kong shuttler a way back.
A series of unforced errors left Zii Jia with too much to do as Ka Long romped home to seal his place in the last eight.
Ka Long will take on Kanta Tsuneyama in the quarter-finals after the Japanese dumped Denmark’s Anders Antonsen, 21-16, 21-10 in another second-round match today.
This is Zii Jia’s third straight early-round exit in three tournaments this year, having also suffered a similar fate in the Malaysia Open and India Open.
World number four Zii Jia went down to Japanese rising star Kodai Naraoka 21-13, 17-21, 19-21 in the opening round of the Malaysia Open earlier this year and 11-21, 21-14, 18-21 to China’s Li Shi Feng in the second round of the India Open last week.
Meanwhile, Malaysian professional pair and second seeds Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing also endured a nightmarish outing when they were stunned 15-21, 21-7, 14-21 by Indonesians Jafar Hidayutullah-Aisyah Salsabila Putri Pranata in the second round of the mixed doubles.
The unseeded Indonesians will take on Feng Yan Zhe-Huang Dong Ping in the quarter-finals after the Chinese pair eliminated Indonesians Rinov Rivaldy-Pitha Haningtyas Mentari 21-16, 21-8 in another second-round match. - Bernama
