KUALA LUMPUR: World No. 7 Lee Zii Jia took a huge stride in his bid to qualify for the World Tour Finals (WTF), while Leong Jun Hao rebounded to charge into the quarter-finals of the Kumamoto Masters today.
Independent shuttler Zii Jia, who withdrew from the Denmark Open in Odense last month due to an ankle strain, battled from a game down to beat world No. 34 Su Li Yang of Taiwan 19-21, 21-8, 21-16 in a 63-minute second round encounter.
"Clawed my way back to reach the quarter-finals of the Kumamoto Masters. It was a good fight, Li Yang," said Zii Jia.
The victory earned Zii Jia a last eight clash against his Indonesian nemesis, Jonatan Christie, the World No. 6, where they are tied 5-5 in head-head record.
Jonatan did not face any trouble overcoming Rasmus Gemke of Denmark 22-20, 21-17 in 51 minutes.
A place in the last eight will give Zi Jia, currently in sixth spot, valuable points in the race to the WTF, and it will boost his chances of playing in the season-ending event in Hangzhou on Dec 11-15.
The top eight players in the World Tour rankings will proceed to the WTF, and Zii Jia can confirm his spot if he reaches the quarter-finals again in the China Masters on Nov 19-24.
Meanwhile, world No. 31 Jun Hao proved his first round victory over a Paris Olympics semi-finalist wasn't a fluke as he carved out a fine 21-10, 16-21, 21-13 win over World No. 11 Koki Watanabe of Japan in the second round in 69 minutes.
It also ended six consecutive first or second round exits at the World Tour for Jun Hao and is a confidence booster before playing Japanese No. 1 Naraoka in the last eight
National singles coach K. Yogendran said Jun Hao proved that he could raise his game to match quality players.
"These two wins are big confidence boosters for Jun Hao. I hope he will be more mature on court and maintain his momentum," said Yogendran.
Jun Hao will be hoping for another breakthrough against Naraoka as he holds a 2-1 record against the Japanese shuttler.
"Playing Kodai at his home ground is not going to be easy, but nothing is impossible in badminton.
"We will do some analysis and Jun Hao will give his best tomorrow. We will take any result positively and learn from it for him to become a better player."
Top seed and world No. 2 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark was forced to battle from a game down to beat world No. 28 Lei Lan Xi of China 14-21, 21-14, 21-9.
The two-time Olympic champion will meet Christo Popov of France, who upset Chu Tien Chen of Taiwan 10-21, 21-14, 21-18, in the last eight.