?Momota Kento of Japan competes during the men's singles match against Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia at a quaterfinal match between Malaysia and Japan of Sudirman Cup 2019 in Nanning, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on May 24, 2019. Momota Kento won 2-0 as Team Japan won 3-0. (Xinhua/Zhou Hua)
NANNING, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Top-seed Japan, who defeated Russia 3-2 and edged Thailand 4-1 during group stage, swept Malaysia 3-0 to qualify for the last four of the ongoing Sudirman Cup here on Friday afternoon.
The opening men's doubles was the only match with some suspension as Malaysian pair Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi, the runners-up at Malaysia Masters 2019, played all out to take the first game before conceding the next two to the 2nd-ranked Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda 13-21, 26-24, 23-21 after one hour and 35 minutes.
"We already knew it would be a rather tough match against them because we never defeated them before. And today they player really persistently," said Kamura.
Then both the men's and women's singles became the sure bet for Japan as the 2nd-ranked Nozomi Okuhara extended its lead to 2-0 with an easy win over Soniia Cheah 21-16, 21-13 in the women's singles, and world's No. 1 Kento Momota sealed the victory in the men's singles by defeating the 21st-ranked Lee Zii Jia 21-18, 21-16.
"Though I won, I don't think I played at my best. In the semifinals, I want to forget about being world's number one and just focus on the match," said Momota.
On his part, Lee believed that he has tried his best at the match. "It's my second time to play against Momota. He's a great shuttler and I have learned a lot."
For the semifinals on Saturday, Japan who never won the Cup before, will meet Indonesia who beat Chinese Taipei 3-2, while China takes on Thailand, hoping for a record 11th title from the biennial tournament which was initiated in 1989.
