All England Open 2024: Anthony Ginting sees off Lee Chia-Hao to make second round, Viktor Axelsen thrashes Kidambi
Indonesia's Anthony Sinisuka Ginting is safely through to the last 16 at the 2024 All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham after easing through his men's singles first-round match on Tuesday (12 March).
Facing Chinese Taipei's Lee Chia-Hao, Ginting wasted no time at all at imposing his dominance on the game, racking up a huge 10-point lead in the opening game at 14-4 before closing it out 21-13, live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the offical Olympics app (territorial restrictions may apply).
Lee put up more of a fight in the second, holding his Indonesian opponent at bay with both men trading the lead multiple times before Ginting finally opened a permanent gap from 13-13 to take it 21-17.
In all, the 21-13 21-17 win took Ginting just 39 minutes, and means he is safely through to the second round. He will face Japan's Nishimoto Kenta on Thursday.
The biggest surprise of Tuesday's early matches was Indian seventh seed HS Prannoy falling to Lee's Chinese Taipei counterpart Su Li-Yang in three games.
Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen, meanwhile, needed just 33 minutes to take down another Indian player in the form of former world number one Kidambi Srikanth.
Neither game was particularly competitive, with Axelsen taking early leads from 3-3 in the first and 1-1 in the second, and leaving Kidambi in his wake as he completed a straightforward 21-9, 21-9 win.
He will play People's Republic of China's Weng Hongyang in the second round, with a potential quarter-final against Ginting on the line.
