All England: Tze Yong sends world number one Axelsen packing in second round

If there was a time and a moment for Ng Tze Yong to announce himself on the grand stage, he chose the perfect moment to do so after stunning top seed and reigning champion Viktor Axelsen 21-15, 9-21, 23-21 at the All England.

It was an unbelievable performance of poise, grit and focus boosted massively with a clinical streak that sent the big Dane packing from the Arena Birmingham, with a bewildered look on his face as he left the court.

For Ng, it capped a breakthrough moment which he could scarcely believe as celebrate the triumph.

Both shuttlers had never met each other prior to this meeting, and it was Ng who set the tone by taking the game to Axelsen.

He led throughout and deservedly won the opening game.

Axelsen expectedly improved in the second and mostly kept Ng pushed to the back court with the drift against him to come away with a straightforward win.

Ng returned in confident mode for the deciding game and stayed cool during the exchanges, frustrating Axelsen who gave away unforced errors points.

The Malaysians 19-15 lead evaporated to 19-19, and when Axelsen held game point it looked as if he was going to survive this scare.

But Ng continued to stay composed, kept playing the neat net shots and got the biggest win of his career when Axelsen pushed a drive long.

The Commonwealth Games silver medalist next faces China’s Li Shi Feng in the last eight.

In his last ten #BWFWorldTour Super 1000 tournaments, Axelsen was victorious in eight of them. His two defeats?#AllEngland2021: Lee Zii Jia ??#AllEngland2023: Ng Tze Yong ??

— Lee Seng Foo??李成富 (@sengfoo88) March 16, 2023

His victory was the first of the day for the Malaysian contingent after Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi earlier lost in straight games 18-21, 18-21 against defending men’s doubles champions Muhammad Shohibul Fikri-Bagas Maulana in an earlier match.

The Malaysian pair, with Rosman Razak as their new coach replacing the departed Chin Ee Hui, started both games brightly but allowed their opponents and way back and crucially, wilted at the end with several unforced errors.

It was also the end for Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing, who suffered a 12-21, 21-11, 19-21 defeat against Japan’s Yuki Kaneko-Misaki Matsutomo.

⚠️ SPOILER ALERT ⚠️ Ng Tze Yong ?? stuns top seed Viktor Axelsen Follow live action: https://t.co/TjoFnU4PnB@HSBC_Sport #BWFWorldTour #AllEngland2023 pic.twitter.com/R03PdZCMsc

— BWF (@bwfmedia) March 16, 2023