All England defending champion Viktor Axelsen was reduced to tears after he was sent packing by Ng Tze Yong in the second round, but the world number one was gracious in defeat and paid tribute to the Malaysian.
“You want to do well, right? I put everything into this so of course I’m emotional. I want to congratulate Tze Yong, I think he played a great game. I wanted to do better, but today it wasn’t to be.
“In the third game, he played well and I made too many mistakes. There’s a winner and a loser, and today Tze Yong deserved the win,” Axelsen said after Thursday's 15-21, 21-9, 21-23 defeat.
While it was a monumental success against the Dane who reached the last four consecutive finals of the Super 1000 event, Ng has little time to revell as he faces Li Shi Feng on Friday.
Ng does not have a good record against the Chinese, losing in straight games in all three of their previous encounters.
“I need to review my game ahead of that match, as I have lost to him several times already. I will go out and give it my all,” he said.
Malaysia have two representatives in the men’s singles quarter-finals after Lee Zii Jia was also convincing in his 21-15, 21-10 triumph over Kenta Nishimoto.
The 2021 champion continued to impress with his power play to notch his best result of the year, but he too faces a daunting task in the last eight against Kodai Naraoka.
The Japanese had beaten Lee on home turf at the Malaysia Open in January, and is on a good run in this tournament having ousted K. Srikanth in straight games to book his spot.
