JAPAN MASTERS: JUN HAO DOWNS ALL ENGLAND CHAMP JONATAN TO STORM INTO FINAL

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 16 (Bernama) -- National men's singles shuttler Leong Jun Hao clawed his way back from a first-game defeat to crush 2024 All England champion Jonatan Christie of Indonesia 10-21, 21-18, 22-20 and advance to the final of the Japan Masters today. 

World number 31 Jun Hao, however, had to toil for 77 minutes to overcome the fourth-seeded Indonesian at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium.

This is Jun Hao's second victory over Jonatan after the Indonesia Open in May and it proves that he is ready to play at the highest level as he eyes his first title in the Super 500 championships.

In tomorrow's final, Jun Hao can expect another tough task as he will face either world champion and 2020 and 2024 Olympic gold medallist Viktor Axelsen of Denmark or seventh-seeded Li Shi Feng of China. 

Jun Hao had previously bagged three titles, namely the 2018 Finnish Open (International Challenge), the 2022 Indonesia Masters (Super 100) and the 2023 KL Masters Malaysia (Super 100); besides finishing runner-up in the 2018 Thailand Masters (Super 300) and the 2019 Bangladesh International Challenge.

Meanwhile, it was the end of the road for national mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie when they fell 21-18, 20-22, 14-21 to Thai pair Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran in the semi-finals.

National professional men's doubles pair Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub-Tan Wee Kiong also bit the dust after going down 12-21, 15-21 to sixth-seeded Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi of Japan in the last four.

-- BERNAMA