China Masters 2024: Jonathan Stops Bad Record

JAKARTA Jonathan Christie broke his bad record against Lu Guang Zu when they met in the second round of the 2024 China Masters.

The 2018 Asian Games gold medalist and sixth seed won two straight games 21-8 and 21-19 to get tickets for the quarter-finals on Thursday, November 21, 2024, noon WIB.

"Praise God for being able to repay the previous two defeats to Lu Guang Zu," said Jonathan after the match as received in a statement from PBSI Public Relations.

This victory made Jonathan equal the winning record with the host's men's singles badminton player to 2-2.

Jonathan's two defeats to Lu Guang Zu previously occurred in a row at the Indonesia Masters 2024 and the Denmark Open 2024. As for one victory he previously won in 2019 at the Australian Open.

This result keeps Jonathan's hopes of qualifying for the BWF World Tour Finals in China in December 2024. So far he has not met the requirements to qualify for the event.

"Again, I don't want to be too affected by the conditions whether to play in the World Tour Finals or not. The opportunity is still there, but I just live it," said the All England 2024 champion.

Currently, the Indonesian men's singles sector has not yet entered the top eight in the Race to Finals ranking. Jonatan and Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, who are still mainstays, are still outside the top 10.

Thus, Indonesia will most likely not have representatives from the men's singles sector at the World Tour Finals later. Jonathan has a chance, but he must try to make it as far as possible at the 2024 China Masters.

Jonathan is currently the only Indonesian men's singles remaining at the 2024 China Masters. Before he won, Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo had already lost.