Zii Jia hails Malaysian men's singles progress after Arctic Open triumph

Zii Jia needed only 40-minutes to beat national team-mate Ng Tze Yong 21-14, 21-15 in a one-sided final where he smashed his way to glory to end a 17-month wait to stand podium top at a World Tour event.

After outclassing Ng, Zii Jia was happy with his opponent’s progress and outlined the future of Malaysian men’s singles.

“Me and Tze Yong used to be team-mates when I was in the national team. We trained a lot together. Seeing him grow up to be a top player makes me proud as a Malaysian. We now have two men’s singles in the top 20.

“I’m hoping this will pave the way for us to have more good matches after this. As for my victory, it was all about being patient and waiting for the right moment to make the right shots,” he told SPOTV.

The Lee-Ng showdown was also marked in the history books as the first Malaysian men’s singles final in a Super 500 event.

Before the formation of the World Tour, Lee Chong Wei was involved in three all Malaysian men’s singles final.

In 2009, he beat Wong Choong Hann at the Macau Grand Prix Gold before repeating that against the now Hong Kong coach at the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold a year later.

In 2016, Chong Wei beat Iskandar Zulkarnain at the Malaysia Masters final.

The last Malaysian men’s singles final in any competition took place last year when Cheam June Wei faced Leong Jun Hao in the 2022 Indonesia Masters final, which was a Super 100 event.

Ng, meanwhile, attributed Lee’s sheer power as the difference.

“He played really well, I’m sad I could not perform in the final. His killing shots [smashes] were so accurate. It’s not like I did not want to take it, I simply couldn’t. I will need to further improve on my stamina,” he said.