Australian Open: Zii Jia beats Jun Hao to end run of first-round exits

The world number 17 had suffered four consecutive opening round defeats in Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan, and desperately needed a big victory coming into this match.

But it was against a plucky Leong, who had battled his way through two qualifying matches to get to the main draw, and he did well to take the opening game.

Lee, however, fought back to level and a 7-0 lead in the deciding game paved the way for the win, despite Leong’s efforts to rally back late in the game.

Lee goes on to face India’s Mithun Manjunath, who upset fourth seed Loh Kean Yew.

Ng Tze Yong joined him after notching another impressive win when he ousted Japanese Kanta Tsuneyama 21-18, 21-8 under 40 minutes.

The world number 21 next face Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie, who knocked out Kento Momota.

It was a victorious day for three mixed doubles pairs, with Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei, Hoo Pang Ron-Teoh Mei Xing and Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai all confirming berths to the second round.

Chen-Toh won in less than 20 minutes to set up a showdown against Rinov Rivaldy-Pitha Haningtyas Mentari, while Hoo-Teoh face a tougher test against Seo Seung-jae-Chae Yu-jung.

Goh-Lai, meanwhile, battled hard to beat their Chinese Taipei opponents in three games for a second-round clash against Japanese pair Hiroki Midorikawa-Natsu Saito.

But there were losses for the contingent too.

New men’s doubles pair Nur Azriyn Ayub-Tan Wee Kiong lost to Olympic champions Lee Yang-Wang Chi-lin, while Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing’s slump continued after they succumbed to second seeds Feng Yan Zhe-Huang Dong Ping.

Joining them through the exit door were mixed doubles pair Chan Peng Soon-Cheah Yee See and women's singles shuttler Goh Jin Wei.