Defending Champ Zii Jia Cruises Into Arctic Open Quarter Final

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Lee Zii Jia failed to get past the first round of his last two competitions since winning the bronze medal in the Paris Olympics in August. (Bernama pic)
PETALING JAYA: Defending champion Lee Zii Jia marched into the quarter-finals of the 2024 Arctic Open after easily disposing of his Japanese opponent Yushi Tanaka in the men’s singles second-round match today.
Zii Jia, who had been having a lean spell since winning the bronze medal in the Paris Olympics in August, defeated Japan’s world No 30 Tanaka in straight games, 21-11, 21-18, at the Energia Areena in Vantaa, Finland.
The world No 4, who was knocked out in the first round of the Japan Open and China Open recently, showed signs of returning to his form with this easy win and his first-round victory over Frenchman Christo Popov 21-15, 21-11 yesterday.
Zii Jia was in complete control in the first game with his trademark overhead cross-court smashes which Tanaka could not answer. Together with his superb net play, the defending champion took the first game 21-11 in just 17 minutes.
Although Zii Jia took an early 3-0 lead in the second game, Tanaka staged a remarkable comeback and took a commanding 9-3 lead within 8 minutes. However, the Malaysian recovered his composure and fought back to level the score.
Going into the break, Tanaka did enough to hold a narrow lead with the score at 11-10.
Zii Jia then took a commanding lead of 19-14 with his tricky net play and crosscourt smashes but Tanaka managed to narrow the deficit to 19-18.
Zii Jia took the next two points to finish the second game in 36 minutes, for a place in the quarter-finals tomorrow, where he will play either China’s Lu Guang Zu or Japan’s Koki Watanabe. - FMT

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