Jayce
After two days of matches, the round of 16 has been determined for all events at the 2024 China Badminton Open. Both the men’s and women’s singles saw several upsets, with two former world No. 1 players being eliminated in the first round, and six seeded players failing to advance. The doubles events faced an awkward situation with 12 byes and four withdrawals.
In men’s singles, the former world No. 1 eliminated was Viktor Axelsen, who lost after a tough 3-game match to Chinese youngster Lei Lanxi, 19-21, 21-17, 16-21. Besides second seed Axelsen’s early exit, fourth seed Li Shifeng of China lost 17-21, 18-21 to Taiwanese veteran Chou Tien Chen, failing to make it to the round of 16. Third seed Lee Zii Jia suffered his most humiliating defeat, losing 15-21, 2-21 to Japan’s Koki Watanabe, marking the lowest score in China Open history and Lee’s personal lowest in recent years.
In women’s singles, Tai Tzu Ying was the player eliminated. She battled Denmark’s Line Christophersen in a three-game thriller but ultimately lost 14-21, 21-7, 19-21. With this first-round exit, Tai’s hopes of reaching the World Tour Finals are now in serious jeopardy.
The mixed doubles category saw a significant number of withdrawals, leading to an unusual situation. After Jiang Zhenbang/Wei Yaxin won 21-19, 21-13 against Chiu Hsiang Chieh/Lin Zhi Yun, they automatically advanced to the quarterfinals due to a lack of opponents, having only played one match. The mixed doubles event saw four first-round byes and three withdrawals, while the women’s doubles had an astonishing eight byes and one withdrawal. It’s hard to believe this is happening in a top-tier BWF World Tour 1000 event. The reason behind this is the reorganization of women’s and mixed doubles pairs by many teams.
