Jakarta: Malaysia’s badminton superstar Lee Chong Wei recovered from a set down to survive a tougher than expected fight from German Marc Zwiebler on Wednesday, edging into the third round of the World Championships by 21-14,17-21,21-8 in a battle that lasted exactly an hour.
Despite the loss, 31-year-old former European champion Marc Zwiebler was happy with his own impressive performance, especially when he was able to steal one set from the Malaysian in their 11 career meetings.
“It was overall a good game, I’m happy with my performance,” said Zwiebler.
As for Lee, he admitted losing focus in the second set to allow Zwiebler to force the decider.
“I lost focus, slowed down the pace, and made some simple mistakes that gave Zwiebler confidence in the second set,” said Lee.
“I stepped up my game and did not give him any chance at all in the third set,” added Lee.
Lee will play Wang Zhengming of China in the third round.
“The last time I met Wang was in Taiwan Open in which I defeated him in straight-sets. But the situation will be much different this time, because this is the World Championships. I will make sure I’m fully prepared to fend off a serious challenge from Wang,” said Lee.
Earlier Wednesday, the 2011 world junior champion, Zulfadli Zulkiffli successfully brushed aside Irish Scott Evans 21-16, 21-13 to advance into the men’s singles third round. Zulkiffli will place Wei Nan next. Wei came out on top in a grueling three-set battle against Tommy Sugiarto on Wednesday.
Against the odds, Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong pulled off a massive upset on Wednesday, when they raised their games with some impressive shot making, and aggression, to eventually pushing through to defeat last year’s men’s double world champions Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Choel of Korea, wining 21-12, 21-15.
Meanwhile, the SEA Games champions, Amelia Alicia Anscelly / Soong Fie Cho reached the third round of women’s doubles event after beating 16th seed, Gabriela Stoeva / Stefani Stoeva of Bulgaria 21-17, 21-14.
Amelia/Soong will face top seed, Misaki Matsumoto/Ayaka Takahashi of Japan in the third round. Misaki Matsumoto/Ayaka Takahashi trounced another Malaysian pair Joyce Choong/Yap Cheng Wen 21-10, 21-9 to book a spot in the third round. No. 12 seeds Vivian Hoo/Woon Khe Wei lost to an unseeded Japanese pair Naoko Fukuman/Kurumi Yonao 13-21, 11-21; while Lim Yin Loo/Lee Meng Yean put up a good fight before they fell to home favorites Nitya Krishinda Maheswari/Greysia Polii 21-17, 13-21, 11-21.
Other star shuttlers such as Chen Long, Lin Dan, Viktor Axelsen, and Jan O Jorgensen in men’s singles; and Saina Nehwal, and Ratchanok Intanon in women’s singles all made it past the second round in their respective categories.
