KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 9 — World number one men’s singles shuttler Viktor Axelsen began his Malaysia Open title defence in style, by easily ousting 2021 world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the opening round at the Axiata Arena here, today.

The 30-year-old Danish star, who is gunning for his third consecutive Malaysia Open title, tamed the Singaporean 21-13, 21-15 in 43 minutes to extend his winning record to eight from 10 matches they have played.

"I feel very happy about my first round performance since Kean Yew is not an easy opponent, especially in the first round. So, I was really focused on bringing the right game-plan today, and I think I executed it well,” he told reporters after the match.

In the second round on Thursday (Jan 11), Axelsen, the reigning Olympics gold medallist and two-time world champion, will take on Taiwan’s Lee Cheuk Yiu, who beat another Danish shuttler, Magnus Johannesen 21-13, 18-21, 21-19.

Asked about his chances of a Malaysia Open hattrick, Axelsen said Malaysia has been a happy hunting ground for him.

"I will try to do my best here in Malaysia, especially KL (Kuala Lumpur), it is one of my favourite places to play. So I will see if I can win this week.

"I have been really fortunate to win not only the Malaysia open, but also the Malaysia Masters in this stadium, which is a legendary stadium, so I am happy to be here,” he said.

Axelsen previously had won the 2022 and 2023 Malaysia Open, and 2018 Malaysia Masters in the Axiata Arena, apart from finishing runner-up to Japan’s former world number one Kento Momota in the 2020 Malaysia Masters.

Recently, Badminton World Federation (BWF) announced Axelsen as the 2023 World Tour’s highest earner, after raking in US$645,095 (about RM2.99 million) prize money.

Meanwhile, in another men’s singles match, world number 24 Srikanth Kidambi of India stunned world number five Jonatan Christie of Indonesia 12-21, 21-18, 21-16.

The former world number one is set to face Angus Ng Ka Long in the second round since the Hong Kong ace had earlier defeated Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama 21-15, 21-9. — Bernama