KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 — National men's singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia had to fight back from a game down to get past Taiwan's Chi Yu Jen 17-21, 21-17, 21-17 in the opening round of the Orleans Masters at the Palais des Sports in Paris yesterday.
The 2024 Paris Olympic bronze medallist, making his first appearance this year, will face Srikanth Kidambi for a place in the last eight after the Indian shuttler defeated Koo Takahashi 21-19, 21-14 in their first-round clash.
National mixed doubles pair Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin also sailed into the next round after defeating Germany's Jonas Ralfy Jansen-Thuc Phuong Nguyen 21-15, 21-17 yesterday.
The sixth-seeded Malaysians will face either Taiwan's Lu Ming Che-Hung En Tzu or Canada's Ty Alexander Lindeman-Josephine Wu in the next round.
Earlier yesterday, another national mixed doubles pair, Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei also advanced to the second round with a straightforward 21-10, 21-15 win over India's Ashith Surya-Amrutha Pramutesh.
In the second round, Tang Jie-Ee Wei will face Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto-Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja after the Indonesians disposed of South Koreans Jeung Na Eun-Ki Dong Ju 17-21, 22-20, 21-14.
However, it was the end of the road for two men's doubles pairs when Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and Man Wei Chong Tee Kai Wun crashed out on the opening day of the tournament.
Aaron-Wooi Yik went down 18-21, 8-21 to China's Sun Wen Jun-Zhu Yi Jun while Wei Chong-Kai Wun capitulated 16-21,14-21 to South Korea’s Kim Won Ho-Seo Sung Ja.
— Bernama
