Badminton

Jonatan out to stop Axelsen's winning streak

KUALA LUMPUR: Indonesia's Jonatan Christie will tomorrow attempt to be the first player to beat world No 1 Viktor Axelsen in nearly four months.

Jonatan earned a shot at the Olympic champion from Denmark in the Malaysian Open semi-finals after defeating H.S. Prannoy of India 21-18, 21-16 today.

Axelsen, meanwhile, subdued Anthony Ginting 18-21, 21-17, 21-12 for his seventh win in as many meetings against the Indonesian to reach his first ever Malaysia Open semi-finals.

Despite being a top ranked player in recent years, Axelsen has surprisingly not made it further than the last eight in the Malaysia Open.

Hence, the towering Dane will surely be pumped up to add the Malaysia Open title to his trophy cabinet.

But who can stop this Viking who had just clinched his 33rd win in 34 matches this year? The last person to beat Axelsen was India's Lakhsya Sen in the last 16 of the German Open in March.

Shortly after his win over Anthony, Axelsen reiterated that he is not invincible.

"Every day is a new day. If you don't perform well, you will lose," he said.

"Ginting is an amazing player, obviously everybody could see his game was more exciting than mine.

"It was an intense and close game, I'm really happy how I manage to play and to come out on top. Over to the next!"

Jonatan has not been quite able to live up to his status as a world top 10 star. Apart from winning the Asian Games gold in 2018 and inspiring Indonesia to their first Thomas Cup in 19 years last year, Jonatan has hardly made any impact on the World Tour.

"I don't think I have anything to prove," said Jonatan, who has not won an event higher than a Super 300.

"As long as I play much better than my opponent, everything will fall into place. I won't think anything beyond than what I have to face in the present."

Jonatan has yet to play Axelsen since his loss to the Dane in the semi-finals of the Indonesia Open last year.

"I don't think the pressure is on me because I'm the one who's playing catch-up to the man who's the world No 1 and has won multiple titles recently," said Jonatan, who won only twice in his seven encounters with Axelsen.

"He has just beaten Ginting, so I will try to avenge my teammate's defeat and for Indonesia as well."

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