Kuala Lumpur: The World No. 10 Kento Momota booked his spot in the second round of the 2018 Malaysia Open that was held at the Axiata Arena, Kuala Lumpur Sports City, Malaysia after a hard-fought win over Anthony Sinisuka Ginting from Indonesia.
Momota got off to a rough start as he lost the first set to Ginting 12-21. He had to dig deep to get the job done when he battled to overcome the Indonesian 21-17 and 21-14 to reach the second round in the match that lasted 81 minutes. He is scheduled to take on No. 2 seed Son Wan Ho of Korea next. Son defeated Kenta Nishimoto 22-20, 21-17 on Wednesday.
“Ginting played and controlled the match really well. Fortunately, I have enough stamina to come back and win the match. I stayed focus and was fighting for every point,” said Momota.
Meanwhile, Ginting also gave credit to Momota for producing a brilliant match.
“Momota adjusted his style in the second set, he was smart and was patient enough to launch his attacks,” said Ginting
“Momota’s attacks were not too dangerous, but had given me a lot of pressure,” added Ginting.
Other men’s singles players who proceeded to the second rounds were Kidambi Srikanth of India, Brice Leverdez of France, Jonatan Christie of Indonesia and Wang Tzu Wei of Taiwan.
In men’s doubles, Huang Kaixiang/Wang Yilyu of China pulled off an upset by outlasting No. 5 seeds Mads Conrad/Petersen and Mads Pieler Kolding of Denmark 21-13, 21-12. They will meet compatriots He Jiting/Tan Qiang in the second round.
The reining men’s doubles World champions Zhang Nan/Liu Cheng of China however were made to work to survive four match points against Vladimir Ivanov/Ivan Sozonov of Russia with 21-13, 19-21, 25-23 triumph to reach the second round. Zhan/Liu will play local players Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong on Thursday.
