In the opening match of the new season of the BWF World Tour, although two Chinese men’s singles players performed brilliantly, they still failed to defeat their strong opponents and break through.
Luo Jianyou, my country’s number one badminton men’s singles, lost to the last runner-up Antonsen from Denmark 13-21, 21-14, 18-21 at the Malaysia Open (Super 1000) on Tuesday (January 6) and missed the top 16.
Although he was at a disadvantage at the start, Luo Jianyou, ranked 10th in the world, found his form at the end of the first game and scored consecutively, and took the initiative to regain the victory in the second game. After the tie reached 16 in the decisive game, Antonsen, the third seed in the tournament, had the upper hand, but Luo Jianyou failed to achieve a reversal.
Antonsen will next face the winner between Yuji Tanaka (Japan) and Hojun Lai (Canada).
Although he is behind Antonsen in the world rankings, Luo Jianyou had a slight advantage in the head-to-head record with four wins and three losses before the game. The last time the two met was at the 2024 China Open, when Luo Jianyou lost 1-2, but he eliminated Antonsen in the earlier Singapore Open in the same year.
Lost to Indian player Zheng Jiaheng and looks forward to continued growth
Another Singaporean male badminton player, Zheng Jiaheng, lost to Indian player Lakshya Sen 16-21, 21-15, 14-21 in an earlier match and failed to break through the first round.
Further reading
In the opening game of the new season, we face a strong enemy, our country’s badminton player, and strive to get off to a good start at the Malaysian Open.
[SEA Games]Luo Jianyou fought hard to advance to the quarterfinals in mixed doubles and also succeeded in men’s doubles
![[SEA Games]Luo Jianyou fought hard to advance to the quarterfinals in mixed doubles and also succeeded in men’s doubles](https://cassette.sphdigital.com.sg/image/zaobao/3fd6dba0a2a3b57c14f470cc85c4b80dd85d39bca7bbee12352eec82c78071e5 "[SEA Games]Luo Jianyou fought hard to advance to the quarterfinals in mixed doubles and also succeeded in men’s doubles")
As a result, Zheng Jiaheng, who won two 300-level championships last year, lost all five contests with Lasiya. Zheng Jiaheng told Lianhe Zaobao after the game: “I still have a lot to learn, and I am still working hard to improve my stability.
“Although I managed to close the gap and reduce my mistakes in the second game, this game was not much different from our previous matchups.”
Zheng Jiaheng, who will participate in the India Open with Luo Jianyou next week, is looking forward to continuing to climb the world rankings in 2026. He is currently ranked 21st in the world.
The defending champions all struggled to advance
The Malaysian Open is the opening event of the 2026 BWF World Tour and one of the four Super 1000 events in the BWF World Tour throughout the year. The other three are the All England, China and Indonesia Opens.
my country’s number one women’s singles Yang Jiamin continues to avoid competition due to injury. The top women’s singles player An Se-young from South Korea also had an extremely difficult journey to defend her title. Facing the impact from unseeded player Wenshan Li (Canada), it took her 1 hour and 15 minutes to come back and win 19-21, 21-16, 21-18.
An Xiying’s opponent in the next round will be Japanese player Nozomi Okuhara, who defeated Chinese Taipei’s Bai Yupo 21-12, 21-14.
China’s defending men’s singles champion Shi Yuqi also won not easily. He defeated Denmark’s Gemke 23-21, 21-15 to advance. In the next round, he faced India’s Ayush Shetty, who defeated Malaysian Li Zijia.
