Malaysia’s hopes in the men’s and women’s singles will squarely fall on Lee Zii Jia and Soniia Cheah as they lead the home charge for the Celcom Axiata Malaysia Open 2020.Following the official draw this afternoon for the BWF Super 750, Zii Jia will face Indonesia’s Asian Games champion, Jonatan Christie – in the opener.
The Indonesian ace has never lost to the Malaysian in his previous five meetings (before the All-England Championships which begin in Birmingham on Wednesday).
Incidentally, Zii Jia opens his All England campaign against Christie.
If Zii Jia, who is Malaysia’s top-ranked men’s singles shuttler following the retirement of Datuk Lee Chong Wei, will play Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke or Indonesia’s Shesar Rhustavito in the second round.
He will run into another Indonesian hurdle in the quarterfinals if he progresses at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil in the event which carries USD750,000 in total prize money.
The top seed in the men’s singles is Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei who is currently ranked No 2 in the world after Japan’s Kento Momota who is skipping the All England and the Malaysian Open.
Tien Chen begins his Malaysia Open campaign against South Korean Son Wan-ho. The third seed is Denmark’s Anders Antonsen who will take on India’s H. S. Prannou while compatriot and fourth seed Viktor Axelsen meets China’s Huang Yu Xiang.
Soniia will is up against defending champion Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei. The second-seeded Tzu Ying defeated Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi 21-16, 21-19 in last year’s final.
China’s rising star Chen Yufei, the world No 1 is the top seed and takes on Russian Elena Kosetskaya with third-seeded Yamaguchi going into the fray with a first-round match against Indonesia’s Fitriani Fitriani.
Another Japanese hope Nozomi Okuhara, the fourth seed, is drawn to meet Korea’s Kim Ga Eun and fifth seed Ratcanok Intanon of Thailand will take on Denmarks Line Kjaersfeldt.
Malaysian hopes in the men’s doubles Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik are seeded No 8 and Indians Manu Attri-B. Sumeeth Reddy is their first hurdle. The other Malaysians in the men’s doubles are Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong and Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani.
In the mixed doubles, Rio Olympics silver medal winners Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying are seeded sixth. The mixed doubles pairs are oh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie and Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing.
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