On September 11, 2024, Beijing time, the Hong Kong Open Badminton Championships ushered in its second day of competition, and the men's singles event attracted much attention due to Axelsen's participation! Last year's Hong Kong Open Axelsen unexpectedly lost to Taipei teenager Li Jiahao in the first round, and this year's Hong Kong Open Axelsen vowed to win the championship and save face! In the men's singles focus match just ended, Axelsen played very easily, defeating Hong Kong veteran Ng Ka Long in straight games 21-11, 21-12 and successfully advanced to the round of 16! Next up in the 1/8 finals Axelsen will face Taipei's Su Liyang, who defeated India's Kieran 2-0!
Axelsen is currently ranked No. 2 in the world and successfully defended his title in the final of the Paris Olympics against Thailand's world champion Kunlavut! Become the second athlete after Lin Dan to successfully defend his Olympic title! Due to the age of 31, today's Axelsen is selective, and it is generally only participated in Super 750 and above events. This year's Hong Kong Open is a Super 500 event, but due to Hong Kong's location in the world, the event is extremely popular, and last year, Axelsen lost in the first round of the event, Axelsen vowed to defend his dignity with the championship this time!
Hong Kong's Ng Ka Long, currently ranked 22nd in the world, once ranked 6th in the world, is 31 years old this year, like Axelsen, he has won 8 championships in his career, and the best result in the Super 1000 event is the runner-up! The best result of the season was a runner-up finish at the Thailand Open! Judging from the previous records of Axelsen and Wu Jialong, Axelsen's strength is obviously one level higher! The two sides have played each other 13 times before, and Axelsen has an absolute advantage of 12 wins and 1 loss! Ng Ka Long has a certain advantage in playing at home!
At the beginning of the first game, the two sides were deadlocked, and Axelsen began to control the rhythm of the game after taking a 4-3 lead, fully demonstrating his strong offensive and defensive ability, and playing a wave of 7-0 to lead 11-3 into the technical timeout! Judging from the first half of the game, Wu Jialang made too many unnecessary mistakes, obviously lacking confidence, but Axelsen played with ease! After the pause, Axelsen continued to control the rhythm and take the lead, although in the second half of the game, Wu Jialong launched a fierce counterattack to chase the points continuously, but it was too late, and finally Axelsen easily won the first game 21-11!
In the second game, Axelsen played very easily, Wu Jialong obviously had no confidence, and Axelsen took the opportunity to play a wave of 9-0! Then Wu Jialong stopped the decline with a small ball in front of the net! In the end, Axelsen ended the first half with an 11-3 lead and went into a timeout! After the pause, Axelsen played a little too relaxed and casual, and Wu Jialong took the opportunity to chase consecutive points, once closing the score to 8-14! However, Axelsen firmly controlled the rhythm of the game and grasped the lead, and finally Axelsen won another game 21-12, and swept Wu Jialong with a total score of 2-0 and successfully advanced to the round of 16!