Malaysian badminton sensation Lee Zi Jia reached the men’s singles final of the BWF Denmark Open 2023 tournament with a 21-15, 21-17 win over Lee Cheuk Yiu on Saturday (21 October), live on Olympic Channel (territorial restrictions apply).
Lee Zii Jia will feature in his second consecutive final after he won the Arctic Open 2023 a week ago, ending a 17-month BWF World Tour title drought. He will face Weng Hong Yang of the People’s Republic of China on Sunday for a shot at winning the fifth BWF World Tour title of his career.
The Malaysian got off to a slow start, losing the first three points of the first game before he found his rhythm. Once Lee Zii Jia got off the mark he scored six points on the trot to move three points clear.
He stamped down his authority extending his lead to five points (11-6) at the mid-game break. Lee Cheuk Yiu managed to claw his way back to get within three points but Lee Zii Jia turned the knife to claim the first game 21-15.
The second game was a tighter affair with Lee Cheuk Yiu making the Malaysian work for his points staying within striking distance. Lee Cheuk Yiu narrowed the gap to one point (7-6) but missed an opportunity to level the scores with an unforced error.
But he soon found his breakthrough erasing a three-point deficit to level the scores on 11-11. The tenacious Lee Zii Jia managed to open a two-point advantage which he extended to four (21-17) to win the match reaching his second Denmark Open final.
Meanwhile, Chen Yufei and Carolina Marin will meet in the women’s final in a battle of Olympic champions after safely navigating their semi-finals on Saturday. Reigning Olympic champion Chen of the People’s Republic of China beat compatriot Han Yue in straight games (21-18, 21-12).
The other women’s semi-final was a repeat of the Rio 2016 final between Marin and India’s PV Sindhu. Rio 2016 champion Marin again finished out on top with a 21-18, 19-21, 21-7 win over the Indian ace.
The first men’s singles semi was an all-Chinese affair between Weng and sixth seed Shi Yu Qiwho beat Singapore star Loh Kean Yew in the quarter-finals. Weng, who won the Australian Open 2023 in August, dominated proceedings winning the contest 21-19, 21-14 to march into the final.
The penultimate day of the BWF Denmark Open was a marathon of semi-finals including the doubles disciplines.
World number one mixed doubles pair Zheng Siwei and Huang Ya Qiong of China beat the Republic of Korea’s Seo Seung Jae and Chae Yu Jung 21-16, 21-16. The number-one ranked women’s pair Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan also demonstrated their pedigree winning their last four match against Even Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi of Japan 21-10, 21-18.
The BWF Denmark Open 2023 is a Super 750 event with qualifying points for the Paris 2024 Olympics on offer. The tournament concludes on Sunday 22 October, with daily coverage live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics app (territorial restrictions apply).
2023-10-21 16:29:00
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