LEE Chong Wei made life difficult for himself with his casual approach against World No 3 Du Pengyu of China before checking into the final of the Denmark Open in Odense last night.
A passive Chong Wei dropped the first game against Pengyu in a repeat of last year's final before winning 20-22, 21-6, 21-15 in 59 minutes.
The defending champion had also produced an uncharacteristic performance in the quarter-finals against Jan Jorgensen of Denmark on Friday where he was stretched to three games and Pengyu also forced Chong Wei to battle for his victory in the last four clash yesterday.
Chong Wei paid the price for taking it easy in the first game but played aggressively in the second and third to avoid an exit at the semi-final stage.
Chong Wei needs to raise his performance in the final where he will meet World No 2 Chen Long of China who has been impressive throughout the tournament.
"It won't be easy against Chen Long as he has had relatively easier matches thus far. Chong Wei, on the other hand, has had to survive two tough matches," said national singles coach Tey Seu Bock when contacted in Odense last night.
"I would rate the final as a 50-50 affair as Chen Long will have had the benefit of having more time to recover from his semi-final," added Seu Bock.
Chen Long easily defeated Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand 21-18, 21-13 in 42 minutes in their semi-final.
It was Chen Long who denied Chong Wei the Denmark Open crown in 2011 and the Malaysian will have to produce his best if he is to add to the Korea, Malaysia, India, Indonesia and Japan Open titles he has won in 2013.
- Harian Metro
- Berita Harian
- Business Times
- My Gadget Planet
- Travelific
- Harum
- Eats
- Properties
- News Image Bank (NIB)
- New Economic Model
- NST Reviews
- NiEXUS
- Friends of Travel Times
- Property News
- NSTLIVE Archive
- Spell-It-Right
