Unseeded Tze Yong storms into Arctic Open final in style

Unseeded Tze Yong storms into Arctic Open final in style

The national singles ace showed no mercy as he downed Japanese ace Kanta Tsuneyama in straight games 21-12, 21-16.

Ng Tze Yong, ranked 19th in the world, overcame a determined fightback by Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan today to enter the Arctic Open final. (Bernama pic)
PETALING JAYA:
Malaysian badminton ace Ng Tze Yong stormed into the singles final of the Arctic Open in Vantaa, Finland, in style after defeating seventh seed Kanta Tsuneyama  21-12, 21-16.

The unseeded Tze Yong gave the Japanese no chance with his accurate net play and well-placed smashes taking a 11-4 lead at the break before wrapping up the first game 21-12 in 16 minutes.

Tze Yong, the world No 19, was again in his element in the second game when he took an early lead at 5-2 within four minutes.

The Malaysian took only 10 minutes to lead 11-3 at the break. Tsuneyama, who is ranked No 16 in the world ranking, fought hard and reduced the deficit by taking four straight points to make it 7-11.

Tze Yong then raced to a 16-11 lead but had to overcome a determined fightback by Tsuneyama before wrapping up the match in about 48 minutes in 21-16.

Yesterday, Tze Yong upset China’s world No four Lu Guang Zu, also in straight matches 21-11, 21-18 in the semi-final. He will now meet the winner of the match between his compatriot Lee Zii Jia and Denmark’s world No 10 Anders Antonsen in the semi-finals to be played later today.

Stay current - Follow FMT on WhatsApp, Google news and Telegram

Subscribe to our newsletter and get news delivered to your mailbox.