Odense: World No. 1 men’s singles player Lee Chong Wei shook off a stiff challenge from Indian player H. S. Prannoy to reach the Denmark Open quarterfinals with a 21-10, 22-20 victory on Thursday.
The match began with a one-sided first set when the top-seeded Lee leading pretty much from the beginning until the end. Lee and Prannoy however were running neck-and-neck in the second set, and the Indian shuttler was able to take the game to deuce in which Lee then notched up two consecutive points to wrap up the match in 40 minutes.
Lee will be playing Brice Leverdez of France on Friday. Leverdez pulled off an upset to beat No. 5 seed Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan 21-19, 21-17 in other second round match.
Men’s doubles No. 4 seeds Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong of Malaysia also advanced to final eight when they needed 47 minutes to dispatch England’s Marcus Ellis/Chris Langridge 21-18, 21-17 to set up a quarter-final clash with No. 8 seeds Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen of China.
Malaysia’s mixed doubles pair Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing however couldn’t clear their second round hurdle by going down to Li Junhui/Bao Yixin of China 21-16, 21-16.
Also falling in the second round was the Malaysian women’s pair of Vivian Hoo/Woon Khe Wei who lost to sisters Gabriela Stoeva/Stefani Stoeva from Bulgaria, losing 21-13, 21-19 in 34 minutes.
