LEE Chong Wei effortlessly secured a place in the last four but Liew
Daren's lack of concentration came to haunt him again as he crashed out
in the quarter-finals of the Maybank Malaysia Open at Putra Stadium
yesterday.Chong Wei, aiming for a record ninth title, thrashed Hu Yun of Hong Kong 21-12, 21-19 in 24 minutes.
Daren, hoping to book a semi-final berth against Chong Wei, allowed Jorgensen to snatch a 19-21, 21-13, 21-17 victory in 62 minutes.
However, Chong Wei faced a different "battle" as he was up against a player who was not interested in providing strong resistance.
Chong Wei, at times, slowed down to engage Hu Yun in rallies to satisfy the fans who had been left frustrated after the World No 1 received a walkover from Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand in the second round on Thursday.
Chong Wei, looking forward to locking horns with Jorgensen, said: "Hu Yun didn't play well compared to the Korea Open but I just want to be prepared for the semi-final against Jorgensen who is in good form.
"Although I haven't had a good warm-up, as long as I can concentrate, I will be able to give my best against Jorgensen.
"I really thought Daren could beat Jorgensen after having beaten him twice but maybe the pressure of playing at home got to him. He should learn from this experience."
Jorgensen was delighted to have survived a tough match and said he would try his best against Chong Wei.
"It was really a tough match which could have gone either way at 17-17. I was lucky that Daren made a lot of errors at that stage," said Jorgensen.
"In the semi-finals, it's like playing a superhero here. Playing Chong Wei here is just like playing Lin Dan in China and I promise to give my best shot against him."
Daren again had problems with his focus as he lost a match he could have wrapped up in straight games.
He managed to come back from 12-15 down in the first game to win 21-19 and in the second game, he led 5-0 and 9-5 before allowing Jorgensen to carve out a 21-13 win.
"It was really disappointing to lose as I had a good chance to make it to the semi-finals. I often lose focus, especially when I am leading and end up making a lot of mistakes after that," said Daren.
Second seed Kenichi Tago of Japan also sailed into the last four, beating Hans Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark 22-20, 21-19 and will play Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro, who defeated another Japanese, Sho Sasaki 21-15, 21-12, today.
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