Dominant Zii Jia breezes past Jonatan Christie at All-England opener

Lee Zii Jia put on a scintillating performance to upset Jonatan Christie 21-15, 21-13 in the opening round of the All-England Championships on Wednesday.

The world number 14 only needed 41-minutes to confirm victory, and will now go on to face China’s Lu Guang Zu in the second round on Thursday.

Lee had lost in all his last four meetings against the Indonesian, but was a complete different player in this encounter with his aggressive and direct approach.

The Asian Games gold medalist started well against the Malaysian and did well to match him until 15-15, before Lee ramped up the pace to take the opening game.

Christie did not recover from that setback and Lee capitalized to race to an 8-0 advantage in the second game.

From then on, it was smooth sailing for the lanky shuttler who eventually romped to a 21-13 success.

Lee faces Lu having beat him at last year’s World Championships.

The Chinese had beaten Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen 21-16, 21-9 in the opening round.

It was the end of the road for national mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai, who lost 12-21, 13-21 to South Korean duo Seo Seung-jae-Chae Yujung.

The All-England was in doubt due to the coronavirus outbreak, but organisers made the decision to go ahead amid heavy safety and screening precautions.