Kuala Lumpur: The World No. 1 women’s singles badminton player, Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan thrived under the excitement of Malaysia Open to waltz through to the second round with a straight-sets win over Malaysia’s Soniia Cheah on Wednesday at the Axiata Arena, Kuala Lumpur Sports City, Bukit Jalil, Malaysia.
Rated as the favorite to win the Malaysia Open title, Tai thrilled the Axiata Arena crowd with a virtuoso performance with a 21-10, 21-9 win in 30 minutes and will next play Michelle Li of Canada. The victory was also Tai’s 20th consecutive win of the season.
The Rio Olympic women’s singles champion Carolina Marin who won the Malaysia Open three years ago, however, survived a stern examination from Indonesia’s world junior champion Gregoria Mariska Tunjung to edge the young Indonesian 21-4, 18-21, 21-8 in 54 minutes.
Marin faces Cheung Ngan Yi of Hong Kong in the second round.
“I like the crowd and I have good memories in here as I won the tournament in 2015,” said Marin.
“I didn’t give up after losing the second set, but I will need to control the shuttlecock better in the second round,” said Marin.
Marin also told reporters that the Malaysia Open and Indonesia Open would serve as the warm up tournaments for her prior to the World Championships that will be held in Nanjing from July 30th to August 5th.
