Cheah Shuts Door On Li Xue Rui – Japan Open: Day 2
Former champion Li Xue Rui was outplayed in a three-game battle in the opening round of the DAIHATSU YONEX Japan Open 2019 today by Malaysia’s Soniia Cheah.
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The Malaysian looked set to close out the match in straight games, holding leads of 13-7 and 15-10 in the second before the 2014 champion surged back, forcing a decider.
Li continued with the momentum and was 8-2 ahead before Cheah enjoyed a strong spell of her own, winning 14 out of 16 points to effectively turn the match in her favour. The 21-18 19-21 21-17 result gives her a second round against another Chinese, Chen Yu Fei, who shot past Indonesia’s Fitriani Fitriani 21-5 21-19.
In a battle between two senior men’s singles pros, Jan O Jorgensen recovered from a deficit early in the third to outplay Lin Dan, 16-21 21-11 23-21.