Basel: Lee Zii Jia and Viktor Axelsen could collide for the 2023 Swiss Open title after both rolled into the semi-finals on Friday.
Highlights of Lee Zii Jia vs. Lee Chia Hao in the 2023 Swiss Open quarter-finals:
Despite losing to Lee Chia Hao of Taiwan in their last two encounters, with the most recent loss at the 2023 German Open second on March 9, 2023, the World No. 4 Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia has risen up to the expectations by coolly navigating two relatively easy games to beat the World No. 42 Taiwanese 21-12, 21-17 in the quarter-finals.
Lee Zii Jia will play World No. 37 Koki Watanabe of Japan in the semi-final.
At the top half of the draw, Axelsen produced a strong match to down World No. 40 Christo Popov of France 21-12, 21-17 to play Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan in the last four.
Highlights of Viktor Axelsen vs. Christo Popov in the 2023 Swiss Open quarter-finals:
In men’s doubles, Malaysia’s World No. 8 Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi beat World No. 15 Muhammad Shohibul Fikri/Bagas Maulana of Indonesia 16-21, 21-12, 21-19 to meet World No. 6 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty of India while Ren Xiang Yu/Tan Qiang of China will play Ben Lane/Sean Vendy of England on Saturday.
Malaysia’s mixed doubles World No. 11 Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai also advanced to the semi-finals. They overcame World No. 15 Supak Jomkoh/Supissara Paewsampran of Thailand 21-18, 21-18.
They will battle World No. 12 Robin Tabeling/Selena Piek of the Netherlands next, while Ye Hong Wei/Lee Chia Hsin of Taiwan will cross-sword with Jiang Zhen Bang/Wei Ya Xin of China for a ticket to the final.
Below are other Swiss Open semi-final actions on Saturday:
Women’s Singles:
Mia Blichfeldt vs. Zhang Beiwen
Pornpawee Chochuwong vs. Gregoria Mariska Tunjung
Women’s Doubles:
Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota vs. Apriyani Rahayu/Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti
Rena Miyaura/Ayako Sakuramoto vs. Baek Ha Na/Lee So Hee
