It was an action-packed semfinals day at the PERODUA Malaysia Masters 2024, with Danish smiles in Kuala Lumpur.
It’s crunch time in this Olympic year, with many players and pairs looking to find their form at the right time before flying to Paris.
The world number one and Olympic champion, Viktor Axelsen, had yet reached a final in 2024. This is something he was keen to change this week. In his semifinal against China’s Lu Guang Zu, he looked like a man on a mission.
The Dane delivered a clinical performance, winning 21-6, 21-13. Lu put up some resistance early in the second game, forcing Axelsen to commit some unforced errors. However, after some recalibration, Axelsen surged to victory.
The 2018 champion will face home favourite, Lee Zii Jia, who will be fighting to keep the men’s singles title in Malaysia for the first time since Lee Chong Wei in 2016.
Double Danish
It was a big thumbs up for Danish men’s doubles pair Kim Astrup/ Anders Skaarup Rasmussen who are into the final after a 21-13, 21-19 win over Malaysia’s Arif Junaidi/ Yap Roy King.
Arif/ Yap were ahead for much of the second game and looked likely to force a decider, however, the Danes clawed it back with a patient game, maintaining their perfect record this week.
They have a chance to be the first Danes to win the Malaysia Masters men’s doubles title and will face the standout package of Koreans Jin Yong/ Na Sung Seung, who defeated top seeds and home favourites Chia/ Soh before dispatching China’s He/ Ren in straight games today.
Other results
In one of the games of the week, Indonesia’s Rinov Rivaldy/ Pitha Haningtyas Mentari defeated Denmark’s Mathias Christiansen/ Alexandra Boje in a thrilling match, 26-24, 14-21, 21-18.
The Bulgarian sister duo, Gabriela and Stefani Stoeva came up short against the top seeds, Rin Iwanaga/ Kie Nakanishi, 14-21, 16-21.
For the full results, click here.