BWF Malaysia Open 2024: Christie, Loh, Lee Zii Jia out as Axelsen progresses to second round
Top seed and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen picks up where he left off the 2023 season with a first-round victory in Kuala Lumpur, beating Loh Kean Yew; Jonatan Christie first singles seed to fall; home hero Lee shocked
Badminton
The reigning badminton world number one and 2023 World Tour Finals winner Viktor Axelsen got his 2024 season off to the perfect start with a straightforward straight-games victory at the BWF Malaysia Open on Tuesday (9 January).
Facing his good friend, the 2021 world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore, Axelsen was dominant in both games to seal a 21-13, 21-15 victory in just 43 minutes.
The Dane established an early lead in the first game and maintained his distance, and although Loh put up stiffer resistance in the second, Axelsen still managed to pull away to seal his progress into the second round, where he faces Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong China.
The first men's singles seed to fall in KL was Indonesia's sixth seed Jonatan Christie, who was felled in three games by Kidambi Srikanth of India.
Kidambi dropped the opening game 12-21 to the Indonesian despite the two being level at 8-8, but the Indian out-muscled his opponent to win the next two games by narrow margins, triumphing 12-21, 21-18, 21-16 in an hour and five minutes.
His next opponent is Lee's teammate Ng Ka Long Angus.
Christie's teammate Anthony Sinisuka Ginting is however through after easing past Chinese Taipei's Su Li-Yang 21-18, 21-12.
Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia is also out after suffering a three-game defeat to Lu Guangzu of People's Republic of China. The home hope had taken an early strong lead, 7-1 in the opening game, before taking it 21-16.
But Lu levelled the match with a narrow second game before pulling away from Lee in the decider to win 16-21, 21-19, 21-15 in a marathon 77-minute affair.
It means Lee's woeful performances on Malaysian soil continue – he has not made it beyond the second round at the Malaysia Open in his career and has now gone nine tournaments without making the final at both the Malaysia Open and Malaysia Masters.
In the women's draw, top seed An Se-young had no trouble dispatching Denmark's Line Højmark Kjærsfeldt 21-16, 21-10 in a rapid 31 minutes.