Lee Zii Jia’s hope of winning his first Badminton World Federation Super 500 Series on home ground was dashed. (Bernama pic)
PETALING JAYA: Malaysian badminton supporters at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil were left heartbroken after a gallant Lee Zii Jia lost the singles final in the 2024 Malaysian Masters today.
He lost to world No. 1 and top seed Viktor Axelson 6-21, 22-20, 13-21 in 62 minutes. This was his sixth loss against Axelsen in nine meetings in a Badminton World Federation (BWF) ranking tournament.
Zii Jia had endured a bruising quarter-final match against Dane Anders Antonsen on Friday and Angus Ng from Hong Kong in the semi-final yesterday, but still raised his game to give Axelsen a tough time.
Against Angus yesterday, Zii Jia was seen limping during the second half of the second game but put up a spirited play to win in straight games.
The whole nation was holding its breath to see if the Malaysian would struggle with an injured leg, but it was not apparent as he gave Axelsen a run for his money and stretched the match to three games.
But the world No. 10’s hope of winning his first Super 500 Series on home ground was dashed.
In the first game today, both players appeared to have a nervous start, making unforced errors. Zii Jia made more mistakes, allowing Axelsen to race ahead to an 11-2 lead in just six minutes. The Dane wrapped up the game at 21-6 in just 13 minutes.
The second game saw Axelson taking advantage of Zii Jia’s cautious play by going for the kill at every opportunity. However, Zii Jia showed flashes of brilliance and took an 11-4 lead during the break with the crowd solidly behind him.
And after a hard tussle in the second half of the game, Zii Jia prevailed with a close score of 22-20 to force a rubber.
In the third game, Axelsen was relentless and took an early 6-2 lead. Zii Jia fought back with long rallies but it was not good enough to stop the Dane. Axelsen won 21-13 to win the championship.
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