Indonesia Open 2023: Loh Kean Yew and Jonatan Christie advance to 2nd round, Lee Zii Jia crashes out early again
Loh progress at the expense of homegrown Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo but Lee loses yet another first-round match, this time to Lakshya Sen.
Badminton
Loh Kean Yew beat Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo 21-15, 23-21 to progress to the second round of badminton's Indonesia Open in Jakarta on Wednesday (14 June).
Other than the first point of the match, Loh never trailed throughout the 45-minute affair in dimissing the local favourite.
The Singaporean, who tripped up at the second hurdle in his home event the Singapore Open last week, will face Li Shi Feng in the next round.
Local hero Jonatan Christie, seeded sixth, defeated Japan's Tsuneyama Kanta 21-17, 21-10.
Lee Zii Jia was not as fortunate, falling 21-17, 21-13 at the hands of Lakshya Sen.
The two traded points for much of the first game until 17-17, when Sen won the last four points to take the set.
Sen was largely in control of the second game, rattling off seven straight points from 5-3 to all but put the match out of the Malaysian's reach.
Lee - who also dropped his first match at the Singapore Open - tried to make it a contest, pulling within 15-11, but would not get closer as Sen captured six of the final eight points.
After crashing out early again, Lee announced that he will take an indefinite break from competitive badminton.
In women's singles, top-seed Yamaguchi Akane (Japan) ousted China's Zhang Yi Man 6-21, 21-7, 22-20. An Se Young (Republic of Korea) had little trouble eliminating Aakarshi Kashyap (India) 21-10, 21-4.
The Indonesia Open is a Super 1000 event on the BWF World Tour, with players able to earn ranking points which count towards Paris 2024 qualification.