Big names continued to fall by the wayside at the KAPAL API Indonesia Open 2024; among the casualties in the first half of the day was Chou Tien Chen, crowd favourite and 2019 champion.

And who should be on the winning side and into his first Super 1000 quarterfinal than Leong Jun Hao, having a dream second week after a quarterfinal at the Singapore Open 2024. Having beaten Anthony Sinisuka Ginting last week and Jonatan Christie yesterday, Leong has the alchemist’s touch now, and it didn’t desert him against Chou.  The Malaysian stayed sharp and kept up his high-intensity game, pushing the pedal at the right moments to come away victorious at 21-18 13-21 21-17.

Rising star Leong Jun Hao goes up against Chou Tien Chen. #BWFWorldTour #IndonesiaOpen2024 pic.twitter.com/MtOxIgXz87

— BWF (@bwfmedia) June 6, 2024

“Of course I feel great. Chou is a tough and experienced opponent, I know he could come back even when I was leading,” said the world No.32. “He was getting closer, and I was trying to think point by point. Because of the conditions he got more aggressive after the interval in the third game. I just tried to take as many shots as possible and waited for my chance. I just kept my gameplay and confidence up in recent weeks. The pressure is on my opponents and they are not familiar with my style.”

Chou wasn’t crestfallen with the result; his focus, he said, was on the Olympics.

“To not get a win is disappointing, but the goal is the Olympics, so it’s no problem. I will try to come back and look at how I lost points. I wanted to win this match but it didn’t work, maybe I hurried a bit. I will try to calm down and play with more patience and focus.

“Of course he played really well and tried to attack a lot in the first game. It was difficult  in third game to control with the wind in the hall. The Olympics is a month later and I have to maybe go back and think.”

WHAT OTHERS SAID

“It was such a close match today. We also played well last week and beat two strong Korean pairs. So these performances give us a lot of confidence going forward.” – Treesa Jolly after a narrow loss to Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara

“I showed a great performance. I had the feeling on court to control the drift, and this is important in this stadium. Of course to play in Istora with this crowd, it’s amazing. They’re supporting me a lot. I feel really thankful about that and I’m happy to be here.” – Carolina Marin

“We didn’t play well. We have to focus back on training and find our maximum level. We don’t have any tournaments left until the Olympics, so we have to get our focus, and step by step fix our gameplay.” – Soh Wooi Yik, after he and Aaron Chia lost in straight games to Lu Ching Yao/Yang Po Han

→Results (Day 3)
→Order of Play (Day 4)