PETALING JAYA: National men’s singles shuttler Leong Jun Hao has secured his place in the Japan Masters finals today after taking down Indonesian rival Jonatan Cristie at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium.
The world number 31 clawed his way in the semi-finals to overcome world number six Jonatan 10-21, 21-18, 22-20 in 77 minutes.
According to Berita Harian, this is Leong’s first finals in a BWF World Tour Super 500 event.
The unseeded Leong reportedly sent home Japanese opponent Kodai Naraoka during the quarter finals on Friday (Nov 15) in one hour and 20 minutes and checked into the semi-finals of the Super 500 match.
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However on the same day, Cristie defeated national men’s singles player Lee Zii Jia.
During the game, Leong was reportedly “slow to warm up”, as quoted when Cristie dominated the first set, sealing his 21-10 win.
The national shuttler then made a comeback in the second set with a clean and aggressive form that won him five points in a row before his 21-18 win hence forcing the match into a decider.
The third set saw Jonatan at the brink of securing his ticket to the finals when he lead the game 10-17 but Leong did not give in when he closed the gap at 16-17.
After that, Jun Hao finally managed to reached match point in the game but Jonatan leveled the score to 20-20.
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Leong kept his cool amidst the tense situation and managed to collect two more points into sealing the deal with a 22-20 win and a ticket to the finals.
The Malaysian shuttler will be facing two-time Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen and China’s Li Shi Feng in finals on Sunday (November 17).
