The new badminton season is barely a few hours old and yet the 2025 Malaysia Open has already produced a stunning upset, as double Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen crashed out in the first round on Tuesday (7 January).
Denmark’s Axelsen did not look at his usual best as he let Hong Kong, China’s world number 21 Lee Cheuk Yiu gain a stranglehold on their first-round meeting in Kuala Lumpur.
The Dane was unable to pull away in the opening game and never led by more than three points. At 9–8 up, Axelsen allowed Lee a run of seven unanswered points from which he was unable to overcome.
It was a similar story in the second, with both men closely matched in the opening stages and level at 12–12. But Lee then won nine of the last 10 points, including the last seven in a row again, to close out a thumping 21–17, 21–13 win.
Men’s top seed Shi Yuqi was also tested, needing three games to overcome Japan’s Nishimoto Kenta in a 77-minute marathon.
Shi eventually held on for a hard-fought 21–16, 20–22, 21–16 victory. He moves on to face Chinese compatriot Lu Guangzu in the last 16.
In the women’s draw, top seed and Olympic champion An Seyoung breezed past Denmark’s Line Christophersen 21–12, 21–13.
However, the first day of play at the Axiata Arena Stadium was interrupted on the outside courts 2 and 3 as water started leaking through the roof during a torrential thunderstorm.
It forced the halting of the matches underway on the left and right courts, with play only continuing on the main court in the middle.
