India Open: Zii Jia crashes out in quarter-finals after hard fought battle against Naraoka

Lee Zii Jia crashed out of the India Open quarter-finals after going down 21-13, 9-21, 16-21 against second seeded Kodai Naraoka in a hard-fought battle on Friday.

Despite not coming away with the win after 78-minutes of action, Lee will take encouragement after pushing the plucky Japanese till the end.

The shift in the Malaysian’s game still needs some refining on the back of this loss, but it was important to see Lee building on his patient play especially in the opening game which he won dominantly.

Lee played a patient game and preferred to push Kodai as much to the back court, and his switch from baseline drives to angle drop-shots worked like a charm for the 21-13 win.

The Japanese enjoyed the side of the court which Lee started from in the second game, and when he opened up a sizable lead the Kedahan decided to reserve his energy for the deciding game.

Naraoka eventually came through, using his silky net play to deceive Lee and probe him into making several unforced errors towards the end.

It was also the end for mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai, who went down in straight games 13-21, 13-21 against Chinese pair Jiang Zhen Bang-Wei Ya Xin.