Indonesia Open: Zii Jia beats Angus for the third time in three weeks

Lee Zii Jia displayed another sublime attacking performance to beat Angus Ng Ka Long 21-16, 21-17 to move into the Indonesia Open second round on Tuesday.

This is Lee’s third victory over the Hong Kong star in the span of three weeks, having done so at the Thailand Open final and Malaysia Masters semi-finals.

It also gives the Malaysian an ideal start as he looks to continue in his rich vein of form heading into the upcoming Paris Olympics.

In their previous two match-ups, Ng had struggled to contain Lee’s attacking threat and it was the same story at the iconic Istora Senayan arena.

Lee, who had pulled out of last week’s Singapore Open after featuring in back-to-back finals in Thailand and Malaysia, came into this Super 1000 event fresh and raring to go.

The world number seven wasted no time in getting on the offence against Ng, and netted plenty of points with his smashes.

Even though Ng had his moments, it wasn’t enough and the Malaysian sealed victory in 40-minutes.

Lee will go on to face either Kiran George or Weng Hong Yang in the next round.

National women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah joined Lee in the second round after they earned a hard fought 21-19, 22-20 victory over Chinese Taipei pair Sung Shuo-yun-Yu Chien-hui.

Tan-Thinaah have been battling to rediscover their form and are looking to use this prestigious event as the final competitive affair before the Olympics.

The world number 17 pair will go on to face either a home or Thai opponents in the next round.

Malaysia Masters champions Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai crashed out after a 21-16, 17-21, 10-21 defeat against Hong Kong pair Reginald Lee-Ng Tsz Yau, while Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei are also out following a straight game defeat against South Korea’s Seo Seung-jae-Chae Yu-jung.