{"id":12288,"date":"2021-11-07T15:20:24","date_gmt":"2021-11-07T07:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=12288"},"modified":"2021-11-07T15:20:25","modified_gmt":"2021-11-07T07:20:25","slug":"hylo-open-zii-jia-inches-away-from-first-title-in-eight-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=12288","title":{"rendered":"Hylo Open: Zii Jia inches away from first title in eight months"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 7&nbsp;&#8212;&nbsp;National top men\u2019s singles, Lee Zii Jia is getting closer to clinch his first title in eight months after he stormed to the final of Hylo Open 2021 in Germany, earlier today, Malaysian time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second seed shuttler defeated sixth seed player, Srikanth Kidambi of India in the last four to set up a Hylo open final showdown against the unseeded\u00a0 Loh Kean Yew of Singapore, later today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, it was not an easy ride for Zii Jia as Srikanth showed his resilience in the first set before the Kedahan player recorded a slim victory 21-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the second set, Zii Jia once again\u00a0survived a scare as the world number eight fought back from a 9-15 deficit to catch Srikanth and eventually got lucky to advance to the final after he won 22-20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-24-at-10.38.36.png\" alt=\"hylo open\" class=\"wp-image-12158\" width=\"490\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-24-at-10.38.36.png 585w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-24-at-10.38.36-300x164.png 300w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-24-at-10.38.36-183x100.png 183w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-24-at-10.38.36-350x191.png 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>This was Zii Jia\u2019s first final after he defeated world number two, Victor Axelsen of Denmark 30-29, 20-22, 21-9 en route to win the&nbsp;All England Badminton Championships 2021 in Birmingham, England, last March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the meantime, the world number 40 Kean Yew continued his fine run in Germany as he&nbsp;defeated Srikanth\u2019s compatriot, Lakshya Sen 21-18, 21-12 in the other semis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 22-year-old Zii Jia will surely seek&nbsp;to avenge his shock early exit at the hands of Kean Yew as the latter pulled off a sensational win 24-22, 21-14 in the first round of the French Open last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\">NMT<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 7&nbsp;&#8212;&nbsp;National top men\u2019s singles, Lee Zii Jia is getting closer to clinch&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-24-at-10.38.36.png",585,319,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-24-at-10.38.36-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-24-at-10.38.36-300x164.png",300,164,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-24-at-10.38.36.png",585,319,false],"large":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-24-at-10.38.36.png",585,319,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-24-at-10.38.36.png",585,319,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-24-at-10.38.36.png",585,319,false],"newsium-slider-full":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-24-at-10.38.36.png",585,319,false],"newsium-featured":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-24-at-10.38.36.png",585,319,false],"newsium-medium":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-24-at-10.38.36.png",585,319,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Editor"]},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?cat=16\" 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