Wildcard Watanabe Stuns Teh Min Jie in Penang Open Round One

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Japanese wildcard Satomi Watanabe produced a sublime performance to stun pre-tournament title favourite Teh Min Jie in the opening round of the IJM Land 4th Penang Women’s Open, PSA W5 event.

World No.148 Watanabe went 1-0 down after losing out on a first game tie-break, but she battled back throughout a series of tightly-contested exchanges to take the next three games in succession, securing a superb victory for the 17-year-old against an opponent ranked 89 places above her in the World Rankings.

Watanabe, who hails from Yokohama, will contest her quarter-final fixture with Hong Kong’s Lee Ka Yi after she saw off Andrea Lee in four.

Lee Ka Yi’s compatriot, Tong Tsz-Wing, will also participate in the last eight courtesy of a 3-0 triumph over Lee Jia Wei and she will take on Malaysia’s Nazihah Hanis for a place in the semi-final thanks to her victory over Chan Yiwen on home soil.

Elsewhere, Vanessa Raj is through to the quarter-final of a PSA World Tour event for the first time in three months, and she will line up against Ho Tze-Lok, the World No.83 from Hong Kong who arrowed past qualifier Sara Chew Rou-Yi 3-0.

Rachel Arnold and Aika Azman will face off in an all-Malaysian quarter-final tie with respective wins over Zoe Foo Yuk Han and Ooi Kah Yan enabling them to advance.

Results – First Round: IJM Land 4th Penang Women’s Open 2016
[WC] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) bt [1] Teh Min Jie (MAS) 3-1: 13-15, 15-13, 11-4, 13-11 (52m)
[5] Lee Ka Yi (HKG) bt [Q] Andrea Lee (MAS) 3-1: 11-0, 11-5, 7-11, 11-9 (32m)
[7] Aika Azman (MAS) bt [Q] Ooi Kah Yan (MAS) 3-1: 11-8, 7-11, 12-10, 11-7 (48m)
[4] Rachel Arnold (MAS) bt Zoe Foo Yuk Han (MAS) 3-0: 11-5, 11-6, 11-5 (21m)
[3] Vanessa Raj (MAS) bt Noor Shadira (MAS) 3-0: 11-1, 11-6, 11-2 (18m)
[6] Ho Tze-Lok (HKG) bt [Q] Sara Chew Rou-Yi (MAS) 3-0: 11-8, 11-4, 11-7 (19m)
Nazihah Hanis (MAS) bt [8] Chan Yiwen (MAS) 3-0: 13-11, 11-9, 11-5 (23m)
[2] Tong Tsz-Wing (HKG) bt [Q] Lee Jia Wei (MAS) 3-0: 11-2, 11-8, 11-3 (27m)

Draw – Quarter-Final
[WC] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) v [5] Lee Ka Yi (HKG)
[7] Aika Azman (MAS) v [4] Rachel Arnold (MAS)
[3] Vanessa Raj (MAS) v [6] Ho Tze-Lok (HKG)
Nazihah Hanis (MAS) v [2] Tong Tsz-Wing (HKG)