PETALING JAYA: National men’s singles shuttler Leong Jun Hao suffered another first-round defeat at the French Open, marking the ninth time he has been eliminated in an opening-round match this year.
Jun Hao lost in straight games to Japan's world No 16 shuttler Koki Watanabe, who had also beaten him in the opening round of the Denmark Open.
The world No 31 put up a lacklustre performance and was outplayed by Watanabe, who won 21-15, 21-11 in 39 minutes.
Watanabe has now beaten Jun Hao in all three encounters this year, but their head-to-head score stands at 4-4.
Jun Hao has not made it past the second round in the 15 tournaments he has played this year.
Currently Malaysia’s top men’s singles player, Jun Hao was warned by Badminton Association of Malaysia officials earlier this year over some disciplinary incidents.
Meanwhile, world No 41 mixed doubles pair Jimmy Wong-Cheng Su Yin’s campaign also ended in the first round, going down to top Indonesian pair Amri Syahnawi-Nita Violina Marwah 20-22, 18-21 in 38 minutes.