World no. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia cruises to the second stage of the ongoing 2016 Yonex Denmark Open after a hard-fought opening round, 16-21, 21-19, 21-11 victory, against Wei Nan of Hong Kong, China on Wednesday night at the Odense Sports Park.

The three-time Olympic silver medalist Malaysian dropped the first set of the match, but pressed on a strong rally in the succeeding games to seal the win.

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According to BadmintonPlanet, the top-seeded Lee, who trailed 11-17 in the second set, had to put on an extra effort before finally digging himself out of a deep hole to force a decider. 

The 32-year-old Malaysian badminton icon, meanwhile, was totally dominant in the third set and completely controlled Wei to claim the victory.

Lee wrapped up the match in an hour and registered his second triumph against the 32-year-old Chinese badminton ace in four outings and set up a second round showdown with India's H. S. Prannoy, who defeated Chong Wei Feng of Malaysia, 13-21, 21-19, 20-22, in an hour and three minutes.

Based on the official website of the BWF, Lee surrendered to Wei in the previous edition of the Superseries Premier event last year and suffered another defeat in the Yonex Sunrise India Open in March this year.

With his latest victory, he was able to draw their head-to-head matchup record to two wins each, as he had previously won over Wei in the OUE Singapore Open two years ago.

Meanwhile, in men's doubles event, the Rio Games silver medalist duo of Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong of Malaysia outperformed the Chinese combination of Zhang Nan and Liu Cheng in three sets, 21-18, 18-21, 21-18, to advance to the second round of the competition.

The Malaysian tandem will be facing the English pair of Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge next.

On the other hand, Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia prevailed over the Malaysian pair of Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong in two straight sets, 11-21, 18-21.

TagsLee Chong Wei, Chinese Super League, wei nan, denmark open, bwf rankings, bwf