PETALING JAYA: National singles ace Lee Zii Jia ended his 17-month drought in the badminton world tour by winning the Arctic Open singles final in Finland by defeating compatriot Ng Tze Yong with ease in just 39 minutes today.
The world No 14 showed no mercy as he powered his way through to win both games easily by 21-14, 21-15, giving Tze Yong, the world No 19, little room for any fightback.
Zii Jia had suffered a series of setbacks this year, going out in the opening rounds of a few tournaments. It was a different story today as he played like a man possessed.
By contrast, the unseeded Tze Yoong, who had defeated seeded players en route to the final, was a pale shadow of himself as he gave away easy points at times.
With this win, eighth seed Zii Jia pocketed US$31,500 (RM149,000). His last World Tour title came in May last year at the Thailand Open, adding to his 2018 Taiwan Open and 2021 All England successes.
Tze Yong earned a prize money of US$15,530 (RM75,530) for being runner-up.
The showdown between Zii Jia and Tze Yong was the first all-Malaysian final in a World Tour-level event in seven years.
The previous such final was between Lee Chong Wei and Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin in 2016 at the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold. - FMT
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