Top two seeds stunned at Hong Kong Open
Wang Yihan and Wang Shixian's exits mean Liu Xin is only Chinese woman left in singles
Unheralded Tee Jing Yi of Malaysia pulled off a big surprise in the Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open after sending defending champion and second seed Wang Yihan of China out of the US$350,000 tournament.
It was a bad day for the mainlanders as top seed Wang Shixian also crashed out after a three-game defeat by compatriot Liu Xin. Liu, the world number 11, prevailed 21-16, 9-21, 21-15 after three games.
The world number 34 won the second round tie against the world number three in three games 21-19, 14-21, 21-15 after a 51-minute match at Hong Kong Coliseum in Hung Hom.
“I have never expected to beat Wang as she is such a high ranking player,” said Tee. “This was our first encounter and I had little pressure against her. But I can tell she was not in her best form as she made a number of mistakes when attacking while at the same I was able to deliver my game.”
Wang, who has already clinched two Superseries titles this year in South Korea and Singapore, blamed herself for the defeat, saying she would evaluate her own performance after returning home.
“I did not handle the match well and of course my form was also not very good,” said Wang, who suffered a fever in last week’s China Open before losing in the third round. “On the day if you cannot perform your best, you will lose the game. In fact, this is the third time I lost in a major this year and there is nothing special.”
