Justin Hoh was on court for less than half an hour, but it was enough for him to book his spot in the quarterfinals of the Men’s Singles Allianz Super 100 at the Indoor Arena Educity Sports Complex here in Iskandar Puteri, Johor.
The 21-year-old second seed, who came in second at this year’s Macau Open, certainly put up a better performance than he did yesterday when he shut down Thailand’s Korakrit Laotrakul in straight sets, 21-9, 21-8 in their Round of 16 tie.
“I played better than I did yesterday. I was not feeling comfortable in the last game, but I feel a lot better today,” said the Kuala Lumpur-born lad.
“I hope to be even better tomorrow, where certainly I would like to go as far as I can in this tournament.”
Justin’s opponent tomorrow will be Yoo Tae-bin from Korea, who had to toil long and hard before he was able to overcome China’s Chen Zhu Xuan in the duel that lasted 75 minutes.
After taking the first set 21-17, the fifth-seeded Zhu Xuan came back to take the second set 21-19.
However, Tae-bin was determined to take the match when he stayed his nerves to take the third set 21-17 and his place in the next round.
In the meantime, Malaysia will have another representative in the quarterfinals of the Men’s Singles in Lim Ming Hong.
The young professional Ming Hong puts up another solid performance to edge Rithvik Sanjeevi Satish Kumar from India.
It took Ming Hong a mere 26 minutes to wrap his game and a place in the next round with a 21-19, 21-8 victory.
The 19-year-old Ming Hong, winner of the Future Series Nouvelle-Aquitaine in France in July, will face Yudai Okimoto from Japan in the quarterfinals tomorrow.
On the other hand, the hope for another Malaysian in Eogene Ewe for a place in the Men’s Singles quarterfinals was dashed when he was denied by top seed Jeon Hyeok-jin from Korea today.
The 20-year-old Eogene fell to a 21-10, 21-18 defeat.
Another Malaysian, Jan Jireh Lee, could not progress past the Round of 16 when he conceded a 21-8, 21-11 loss to sixth-seeded Jason Gunawan from Hong Kong.
