German Open 2022: Lee Zii Jia through to quarter-finals after beating Christo Popov
The Malaysian comes through his second-round tie against French opponent in three games, while in women's singles PV Sindhu is out. Men's Olympic champ Viktor Axelsen is also into the last eight.
Badminton
Lee Zii Jia's journey continues at badminton's German Open in Mülheim after another tense three-game victory.
Facing France's Christo Popov, Lee – the men's singles fifth seed – comfortably took the first game 21–13, rattling off the last six points of the game to pull clear.
But Popov pushed his Malaysian opponent in the second, coming from behind to out-duel the world number seven 21–18.
For a while it looked like Popov would complete the surprise, leading Lee 9–6 before the Malaysian rallied for eight consecutive points to take control of the decider which he went on to win 21–12.
Axelsen also through, but women's stars shocked
The win puts Lee into the last eight, where he is joined by Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark.
Axelsen saw off Popov's brother, Toma Junior Popov, in just 38 minutes.
Toma Junior Popov began brightly in the first, holding Axelsen up to 9–8 up, before the Olympic champ put together eight unanswered points.
The Dane, the world number one, eventually triumphed 21–17, 21–10. He plays India's Kidambi Srikanth in the quarters.
Earlier, Tokyo 2020 women's singles bronze medallist PV Sindhu of India, the tournament seventh seed, was eliminated by China's Zhang Yi Man.
Zhang started the brighter of the two, rolling off eight straight points in the first game, before the Indian clawed her way back into the match by taking the second.
After a tight start to the third game, with the players splitting the first 12 points evenly, Zhang finally pulled clear to eventually triumph 21–14, 15–21, 21–14.
World number one Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei was another casualty as she suffered a straight-games reversal by Japan's Takanashi Sayaka 15–21, 18–21.