Taipei: After the withdrawal of Lee Chong Wei, Lin Dan, and Chen Long, China’s Tian Houwei became the highest seed remaining at Chinese Taipei Open. However, the No. 4 seed Tian was knocked out of the tournament when he slumped to an 18-21, 10-21 defeat by Hong Kong shuttler Vincent Wong Wing Ki in the men’s singles third round on Thursday.
Tian found it’s hard to dig himself out of a deep hole when he was trailed by 0-9, 18-7 in the second set to eventually succumbed to the Hong Kong shuttler.
“I came into the match prepared. Tian was very patient player, but I started attacking as soon as I found an opportunity,” said Wong.
Wong held a 2-1 career meeting advantage over Tian after Thursday’s victory and will play No. 5 seed Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan next.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s men’s singles player Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin survived a stern examination by his former national team teammate Daren Liew to come through in 3 sets by beating Liew 23-21, 19-21, 23-21 in 73 minutes.
In men’s doubles, the No. 2 seeds Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong of Malaysia fought past resilient compatriots Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi 21-19, 21-18 to play Huang Kaixiang/Zheng Siwei of China in the quarterfinals.
