by BERNAMA / pic by BERNAMA

KUALA LUMPUR – National men’s singles player Lee Zii Jia (picture) advanced into the last eight of the Swiss Open 2021 following a victory over Victor Svendsen of Denmark on Thursday.

Zii Jia, who is currently ranked 11th best in the world, proved too good for the world number 65, winning 21-15, 21-11 in just 34 minutes, in the second round of the tournament at St Jakobshalle, Basel.

The 22-year-old Alor Setar lad, seeded second in the tournament, will be up against the fifth seed, Sai Praneeth of India, today.

In the men’s doubles category, top seeds Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik will take on the Indonesian pair, Leo Rolly Carnando-Daniel Marthin in the quarter finals after they were given a walkover by Danish pair, Jeppe Bay-Lasse Molhede.

However, it was a day to forget for the 2016 Rio Olympics silver medallists Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong as their mission to earn valuable points to qualify for the Olympics 2020 in Tokyo remained in question following a defeat to Germany’s Mark Lamfuss-Marvin Seidel, 21-19, 21-19.

Another 2016 Rio Olympics silver medallists Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying crushed Ronan Labar-Anne Tran of France, 21-12, 21-16, to set up a clash against Mathias Christiansen-Alexandra Boje from Denmark in the last eight.

Meanwhile, the up-and-coming women’s doubles pair of Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah also progressed into the quarter finals by overpowering Anastasiia Akchurina-Olga Morozova of Russia, 21-16, 21-18.

The young pair took 52 minutes to beat the Russian duo and will be facing Amalie Magelund-Freja Ravn from Denmark next.

Other first round results:

Men’s doubles:

[5] Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi bt Joel Eipe-Rasmus Kjaer (DEN) 21-18, 21-13

Low Hang Yee-Ng Eng Cheong bt [4] Marcus Ellis-Chris Langridge (ENG) 10-21, 21-15, 21-15

Women’s doubles:

[2] Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean bt Linda Efler-Isabel Herttrich (GER) 21-18, 21-17

Mixed doubles:

[4] Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie bt Rasmus Espersen-Christine Burch (DEN) 21-10, 21-15

[5] Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing bt Jones Ralfy Jansen-Kilasu Ostermeyer (GER) 21-14, 21-17

(Note: Malaysians unless stated; [  ] denotes seeding)