BWF Indonesia Open 2024: Lee Zii Jia knocked out by world champ Kunlavut
Lee Zii Jia's run at badminton's 2024 Indonesia Open is over after the Malaysian suffered defeat in the quarter-finals on Friday (7 June) to Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn.
The 26-year-old Malaysian was looking to reach the final for a third consecutive tournament, but saw his hopes ended in Jakarta by the Thai reigning world champion 16-21, 17-21.
Lee had appeared to be comfortably ahead in the opening game despite never actually pulling away from Kunlavut. However, the world champ managed to go on a run and won 10 of the last 12 points in the game.
The second game was just as close, with Kunlavut taking the early lead before Lee pulled ahead with a string of six consecutive points. However, Lee was unable to open up a significant advantage, and once more Kunlavut won the last five points in a row to close out the match.
In the women's draw, third seed Carolina Marín needed just 27 minutes to beat seventh seed Han Yue in a one-sided quarter-final.
Spaniard Marín, the Rio 2016 Olympic champion, was in complete control against Han, who was unable to find a foothold in the game against the dominant third seed.
Marín will face the second seed and her successor as Olympic champion, Chen Yufei, in the semi-finals.
Chen beat Chinese Taipei's Sung Shuo-Yun 21-15, 21-7 in her quarter-final.
