He was a revelation at the All England in March, reaching the final with a brand of sparkling, inventive badminton.

Since then, the graph has been anti-climactic for Lee Chia Hao, with the world No.19 winning just one match from five tournaments.

Today, battling the ebb and tide of self-doubt in the first round of the KAPAL API Indonesia Open 2025, Lee broke through the opening barrier after three straight first round losses.

Three missed match points in the second game against Lu Guang Zu threatened to sink his chances but he kept himself together, and once he gained a three-point lead the confidence returned. From there his shot-making improved dramatically and some delectable shots at the end saw him through to the second round.

It was a win he badly needed.

“More than happiness, it’s a push for me to keep going further,” said Lee.

“My confidence and feeling do play a role. Previously I was hard on myself but right now I’m just trying to play my game.”

All through the match, the 26-year-old kept his self-dialogue going, apparently talking himself into calming down and avoid unforced errors. Yet, given that his natural style is free-flowing and deceptive, the conservativeness wasn’t helping and he struggled to shake off the stubborn Lu. It was only with the three-point cushion in the third that Lee shook himself free, pushing the pace and conjuring tight angles, to cruise to his second win from nine matches against the Chinese.

“When I’m speaking to myself, I’m trying to regulate all the emotions and thoughts and put the goals where I need them to be,” said Lee. “In the second game I lost confidence and control but in the third I let the situation sink in and that helped.”

Next up will be a stiffer test – against a player in red-hot form, Kunlavut Vitidsarn.

Highlights

» Michelle Li had a heartbreaking loss to Tomoka Miyazaki, with the Canadian injuring herself at match point at the end of a high-intensity battle. Li kept going after the injury but eventually succumbed to the Japanese, 19-21 21-14 25-23.

» The day began with an upset, with mixed doubles top seeds Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Suet crashing out to home pair Adnan Maulana/Indah Cahya Sari Jamil 24-22 21-12.

» Another upset in mixed doubles followed, with Sathish Kumar Karunakaran/Aadya Variyath beating Ye Hong Wei/Nicole Gonzales Chan in three games.

» Malaysia Open champions Mayu Matsumoto/Yuki Fukushima were taken to three games by Australia’s Gronya Somerville/Angela Yu, 21-14 21-23 21-12.

→ Results (First round)

WHAT OTHERS SAID

“It was my first time against a Chinese player so I was quite curious, and it was a big challenge in the Istora in these tricky conditions. I was trying to be aggressive and confident to show her I’m playing the same as her and not going to give her the space to play. I feel happy I played in Istora but am disappointed I didn’t finish in my way.” – Polina Buhrova after falling in three games to Gao Fang Jie

“This is one of the biggest wins for us. We’ve been struggling to get one on this big stage so we are really happy to have won. For one year we’ve been struggling for this breakthrough, to beat a top 20 pair. I’m recovering from an ankle injury, I had a ligament tear before the Sudirman Cup, so I’ve been recovering, and it feels good to get this win.” – Variyath