Lee Zii Jia started his new journey as an independent shuttler on a resilient note after coming from behind to beat Mark Caljouw 19-21, 21-13, 21-8 to reach the second round of the German Open on Wednesday.

Lee had come to Europe complete with his new team, including coach Indra Wijaya and physiotherapist Sandra Fiedler.

However, the world number seven was made to work for his 52-minute victory, especially after losing the first game.

Lee was still making unforced errors midway through the second game, but eventually pulled away for the win and found his groove in the decider to obliterate the Dutchman.

“It was a bit of a struggle for me to control in the first two games, but I managed to handle it in the third. It’s a good win for me. There’s a lot of top ranked players here and I am hoping for a good tournament,” said Lee, who will now play Christo Popov for a place in the last eight.

In the men’s doubles, sixth seeds Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi needed an hour of hard battle before they edged past Indian pair M.R. Arjun-Dhruv Kapila 21-13, 20-22, 21-19 to book a meeting with Ben Lane-Sean Vendy.

Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing also came through their first mixed doubles test late Tuesday and play English pair Gregory Mairs-Jenny Moore next.

Chen Tang Jie-Peck Yen Wei failed to join them after they were upstaged by fifth seeds Marcus Ellis-Lauren Smith 21-12, 13-21, 23-21, while Hoo Pang Ron-Cheah Yee See lost in straight games to their Thai opponents.

The women’s doubles saw Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sien come through in straight games against their Estonian opponents, and play Scottish pair Julie Macpherson-Ciara Torrance next.

Hoo-Lim were expected to play Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah, but the eighth seeds surprisingly lost 17-21, 14-21 against Macpherson-Torrance.

Ong-Goh Liu Ying and Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai had both lost their first round matches on Tuesday.