PETALING JAYA: National singles ace Lee Zii Jia’s readiness for the 2024 Malaysia Master semi-finals was in doubt after his gruelling 84-minute victory over world number four Anders Antonsen of Denmark today.
Lee suffered leg and body cramps from today’s match, and was given ice bath treatment at the National Sports Institute immediately after the match, said his manager, Lee Zii Yii, according to Bernama.
His condition would be assessed tomorrow morning.
“Just after the second set, you can see that he called the medical officer because (muscles) were tight and tired because he had just returned from Thailand, while yesterday also he fought a fierce match (against Kiran George of India),” Zii Yii was quoted as saying.
“Now he is having cramps…standing, sitting, even walking. We are trying our best to let him recover, then we will see how is the condition,” she told reporters.
Zii Jia advanced to the semi-finals for the first time in three years by eliminating Antonsen with a 21-15, 19-21, 21-11 victory.
Fresh from winning the Thailand Open title last week, Zii Jia, ranked world number 10, was powered by strong home support to secure only his third win against Antonsen in eight encounters since his first victory at the 2020 Malaysia Masters.
Zii Jia, gunning for his first title on home soil, will face Hong Kong’s Angus Ng, who stunned third seed Li Shi Feng of China 21-13, 21-15.
The 26-year-old Zii Jia’s best ever achievement in the Malaysia Masters was the semi-finals in 2020 when he went down to eventual champion Kento Momota, while he advanced to the quarter-finals in 2019.
He was eliminated in the first round in 2017 and second round in 2018 and 2023, while he didn’t take part in 2022. The 2021 tournament was called off due to the Covid-19 pandemic. -FMT
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