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Axelsen fighting his way to the Lee Chong Wei re-match (Photo: Badminton Photo)
Axelsen grinds his way into the quarters
Date: 6/28/2018 3:26 PM
Published by : Alan Raftery
Day 3 at the Malaysia Open in Kuala Lumpur saw players fighting for their spot in the last 8 of the competition. And a few big names will be missing out, but some great match-ups to look forward to also.

On that list of big players out of the quarter finals are the returning pair of Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christina Pedersen, who lost to unseeded Japanese pair of Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara, 21-16, 21-15. This reverses the result of the All England Open semi-final earlier this year. 

The Danish Women’s Doubles no. 3 seeds may have joined Boe and Mogensen in their surprise exit, however Denmark have representation in the Men’s Doubles, through Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen. The unseeded pair delivered a brilliant repeat of their win last year against the 8th seeded Indonesian pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto, again in 3 games, 17-21, 21-14, 21-10. They will now face Endo and Watanabe of Japan, whom they defeated in their only previous encounter last year, after a tight 3 game match ending 21-19 in the third. 

A very different journey
We will be having the match-up we all wanted. A re-match between number one in the world, Viktor Axelsen and the Malaysian superstar, Lee Chong Wei in his home city of Kuala Lumpur. Chong Wei defeated Axelesen in straight games at the Thomas & Uber Cup Finals just last month. And has looked very comfortable on his home court when dispatching of the veteran South Korean Lee Hyun Il in less than 30 minutes, 21-7, 21-7.  Axelsen has had a very different journey with two tough 3 game matches, where he had to grind out the first two games in each match, eventually breaking down his two opponents from Thailand. He now has been on courts twice as long as Lee Chong Wei, adding to the intrigue this match brings. A great test for Axelsen in his campaign to defend his World Championship next month. 

For all the results and fixtures click here.

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