Liew beat Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus 21-18, 23-21 at the Denmark Open. — Picture via Facebook
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 21 — National men’s singles shuttler, Liew Daren began his campaign in the Denmark Open 2021 on the right footing following a victory against home shuttler Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus in the first round on Wednesday.
Liew, ranked 37th in the current world rankings, endured a dramatic 47-minute battle with Hans-Kristian which saw the former progress to the next round after winning 21-18, 23-21.
However, a tricky road lies ahead for Liew as he’ll be up against the national top shuttler, Lee Zii Jia, today.
Zii Jia cruised to the next round after winning against Taiwanese player, Wang Tzu Wei 12-21, 21-9, 21-18 earlier yesterday.
In the men’s doubles category, world number 16 duo Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi advanced to the second round after Danish pair Joel Eipe-Rasmus Kjaer retired in the second set despite the score tied at 18-18.
Ong-Teo took the first set against Joel-Rasmus 21-12.
The Malaysian pair will next be up against Scottish pair, Alexander Dunn-Adam Hall, after they emerged victorious against Lucas Corvee-Ronan Labar of France 21-14, 21-14.
Despite taking a comfortable lead of 6-1 in the first set, national mixed doubles pair, Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie were only able to get into the action for just three minutes before their opponents, He Ji Ting-Liu Xuan Xuan of China retired from the first round.
The third seeds of the tournament, Praveen Jordan-Melati Daeva Oktavianti await Goh-Shevon in the second round, as the Indonesian pair got past Mikkel Mikkelsen-Rikke Soby of Denmark, 21-15, 21-14 earlier.
In another match, Chen Tang Jie-Peck Yen Wei failed in their mission to create an upset against the second seeds, Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai as they lost to the Thais, 21-16, 23-21. — Bernama