Fourth seed Lin Dan takes on unseeded Japanese shuttler Kanta Tsuneyama in the Men's singles R16 match of 2017 Badminton Asia Championships on Thursday.
The four-time champion had little trouble in decimating Singapore Open semi-finalist Lee Dong Keun 21-15, 21-10 in just 51 minutes in his opening-round tie yesterday.
On the other hand, Tsuneyama clinched one of the biggest wins of his career by edging past world number 12 Vincent Ki Wong in a tightly-contested match 21-11, 16-21, 21-14 that went on for an hour an eight minutes.
Lin did have signs of rustiness when he was back on court at German Open in February after the end of his five-month absence from the sport. He managed to reach the R16 in the tournament before he stepped up and made the semi-final at All England Championships.
With Swiss Open and the long-awaited Malaysia Open titles following him, Lin seems to have hit peak form and is hungry for more titles this season. Having secured enough points to qualify for BWF World Championships this year, the 33-year-old will be motivated to head into the tournament as the Asian champion.
The in-form two-time Olympic champion starts as favourite to reach the quarter-final stage and Tsuneyama, the world number 50, faces an uphill task in their tie today. The 20-year-old will also be tested physically as he is heading into today's crucial tie after a marathon battle yesterday.
Tsuneyama has beaten top shuttlers of the likes of Ajay Jayaram and Tian Houwei in the recent past and also reached the quarter-final of China Masters last week but beating a title-hungry Lin will be a tough ask for the youngster.
