Lee Zii Jia’s march at the Australian Open ended in the semi-finals at the hands of Weng Hong Yang, who turned on the heat in the deciding match to upstage the Malaysian 21-19, 13-21, 21-13 in Sydney on Saturday.
The world number 17 did well to lead the opening game until the 12th point, but then allowed room for the resilient Chinese to rack up a succession of points to seal the lead.
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The second game belonged to the Malaysian who demonstrated an array of his abilities in defence, wonderful net play and lethal finishing.
But Lee’s challenge collapsed early in the deciding game, when he allowed Weng to pull away to 14-6 after both shuttlers were locked at 6-6.
In what looked like a loss of focus, Lee lost control of the match fairly quickly, as his opponent was able to seal the win comfortably.
It will be back to the drawing board for the independent shuttler, but he should be satisfied having come this far after exiting early in the last few months.
Along with the rest of the elite shuttlers, Lee will next prepare for the marquee World Championships taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark from August 21-27.
