Tee Jing Yi
Women’s singles shuttler Tee Jing Yi played the match of her life to become the last Malaysian standing at the Hong Kong Open.
The 23-year-old beat world No. 3 Wang Yihan 21-19, 14-21, 21-15 in the second round on Thursday.
World No. 34 Jing Yi was not given much hope against the Chinese second seed, who is the reigning Olympic silver medallist and the 2011 world champion.
But Jing Yi certainly proved her doubters wrong after taking four straight points from 17-19 to nick the first game.
Despite losing the second, Jing Yi stayed cool to seal her first ever quarter-final appearance in a Superseries event after 51 minutes.
“Maybe my opponent wasn’t in the best form … I just took the opportunity to attack her from the start,” said an elated Jing Yi.
“Since I was the lower ranked player, I had nothing to lose and I just went all out. I also played an offensive game. I’m happy to win, especially since I never thought I could beat an opponent like Yihan. But I can’t lose focus yet.
“To earn my first quarter-final appearance at this level has definitely boosted my confidence.”
Jing Yi’s reward is a quarter-final clash against world champion and fifth seed Carolina Marin. The Spaniard had little trouble disposing of Malaysia’s Lydia Cheah, winning 21-10, 21-10 in just 25 minutes.
It was a bad day for the big guns in the women’s category, with top seed Wang Shixian of China, fourth seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand and seventh seed P.V. Sindhu of India crashing out.
Malaysia’s challenge in the men’s singles and women’s doubles also came to an end after Chong Wei Feng and Lim Yin Loo-Lee Meng Yean lost in the second round.
Wei Feng, who slipped from No. 23 to No. 32 in the world rankings, disappointed with his inconsistency.
Wei Feng, who beat eighth seed Tian Houwei of China in the first round, saved three match points against Takuma Ueda of Japan but still lost 18-21, 21-15, 20-22.
Ueda will meet top seed Chen Long in the last eight.
World No. 35 women’s pair Yin Loo-Meng Yean nearly upset the form books against fifth seeds Bao Yixin-Wang Xiaoli of China but eventually went down 21-19, 16-21, 9-21.
Source: thestar.com.my
