Chong Wei holds off Christensen but Fairuzizuan-Zakry fall
News 9:25 AM
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei is just one step away from winning his second Super Series Masters Finals title but the fairy-tale run ended for Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif yesterday.
Chong Wei survived a great fight from Peter-Gade Christensen of Denmark to win their semi-final match 21-17, 21-16 win in a 43-minute battle.
Both players locked horns from the start with Christensen trying all kind of tricky shots to out-fox Chong Wei.
But the world number one Malaysian stayed composed to the delight of the home crowd, setting up a showdown with South Korean Park Sung-hwan who cruised past China’s Bao Chunlai 21-14, 21-14 in the other semi-final.
National coach Misbun Sidek was relieved that Chong Wei came through the energy-sapping match.
“Peter came prepared. His attacking game was flavoured with so much variety and it almost trapped Chong Wei,” said Misbun.
“Fortunately, Chong Wei was fit enough to defuse the attacks.”
Misbun said Chong Wei could expect a similar approach from Sung-hwan today.
“Looking at both their performances in the tournament so far, I think, the match will go down to the wire,” said Misbun.
“Sung-hwan also has variety in his game and can be quite dangerous at the net. Chong Wei will have to be alert and intelligent in dealing with the Korean on the court.”
It was the end of the road for Fairuzizuan-Zakry, who went down tamely 14-21, 11-21 to South Koreans Jung Jae-sung-Lee Yong-dae.
Fairuzizuan admitted that the Koreans were a class above.
“We lost to a better pair. They are better in every department – this time. But we can catch up,” he said.
“We need to devote more time in training. We must bring back the hunger in us to raise our level higher. We know our weak spots and we will be out to close the gap against the Koreans.”
Yong-dae-Jae-sung will take on Denmark’s Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen in the final today. The Danes edged China’s Guo Zhengdong-Xu Chen 21-19, 21-17 in another semi-final.
Posted by Lucas Liau
on 9:25 AM.
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