Muristek
World number seven Lee Zii Jia, who is seeded fifth, will take on Christo Popov in the second round tomorrow after the Frenchman ousted Israel’s Misha Zilberman 21-19, 21-18. — Bernama pic
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KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 — Malaysian men’s singles ace Lee Zii Jia was made to slog for 52 minutes by Dutchman Mark Caljouw before emerging victorious in the opening round of the German Open 2022 in Muelheim today.
In a repeat of their All England 2021 semi-final clash, the Dutchman downed Zii Jia 21-19 in the first game before the Malaysian, who turned professional in January, found his rhythm to win the next two games 21-13, 21-8 at the Westenergie Sporthalle.
World number seven Zii Jia, who is seeded fifth, will take on Christo Popov in the second round tomorrow after the Frenchman ousted Israel’s Misha Zilberman 21-19, 21-18.
Meanwhile, national women’s doubles top pair Pearly Tan-M Thinaah, who are seeded eighth, suffered an embarrassing first-round exit after losing to the unseeded Julie Macpherson-Ciara Torrance of Scotland 17-21, 14-21.
Julie-Ciara will face another Malaysian pair, Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sen, in the next round. Vivian-Chiew Sen had defeated Estonia’s Kati-Kreet Marran-Helina Ruutel 21-15, 22-20 yesterday (March 8).
Professional men’s doubles pair and sixth seeds Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi survived a tense rubber game before finally subduing India’s MR Arjun-Dhruv Kapilla 21-13, 20-22, 21-19.
Yew Sin-Ee Yi will be up against Ben Lane-Sean Vendy next after the English pair trounced Alexander Dunn-Scott Hall of Scotland 21-16, 21-19.
Meanwhile, two Malaysian mixed doubles pairs — Hoo Pang Ron-Cheah Yee See and Chen Tang Jie-Peck Yen Wei — failed to get past the first hurdle.
Pang Ron-Yee See lost 18-21, 16-21 to Thailand’s Supak Jomkoh-Supissara Paewsampran while England’s fifth-seeded Marcus Ellis-Lauren Smith overcame Tang Jie-Yen Wei 21-12, 13-21, 23-21.
Supak-Supissara will meet Marcus-Lauren in the second round tomorrow. — Bernama