The reigning badminton world number one and 2023 World Tour Finals winner Viktor Axelsen got his 2024 season off to the perfect start with a straightforward straight-games victory at the BWF Malaysian Open on Tuesday (9 January).
Facing his good friend, the 2021 world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore, Axelsen was dominant in both games to seal a 21-13, 21-15 victory in just 43 minutes.
The Dane established an early lead in the first game and maintained his distance, and although Loh put up stiffer resistance in the second, Axelsen still managed to pull away to seal his progress into the second round, where he faces Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong China.
The first men’s singles seed to fall in KL was Indonesia’s sixth seed Jonathan Christiewho was felled in three games by Kidambi Srikanth of India.
Kidambi dropped the opening game 12-21 to the Indonesian despite the two being level at 8-8, but the Indian out-muscled his opponent to win the next two games by narrow margins, triumphing 12-21, 21-18, 21-16 in an hour and five minutes.
His next opponent is Lee’s teammate By Ka Long Angus.
Malaysia’s Lee Zi Jia and Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting begin their campaigns later on Tuesday.
In the women’s draw, top seed An Se-young had no trouble dispatching Denmark’s Line Højmark Kjærsfeldt 21-16, 21-10 in a rapid 31 minutes.
2024-01-09 13:01:00
#Christie #Loh #Axelsen #progresses
