Jonatan Christie struggles to get a fix on why exactly his recent results haven’t matched the work put in.

In his first four tournaments of the year, he crashed out in the opening rounds of three, and in the second round of one. What mystifies him is that he has been unable to translate his form in training to competition.

“I’m trying my best, but my results are not going according to the work I’ve put in,” said the world No.9, after entering the quarterfinals of the YONEX All England 2024. “It’s very different from how I perform in my training. But this is badminton. Men’s singles is very difficult, and the competition is very tough.

“My form was not bad until the World Tour Finals, but this year, going by my results, it has been disappointing. But if we look at progress in level of play, I think I have improved. I keep trying my best in every tournament. In training everything is very good, and I’m not making mistakes.”

There was thus some relief at making his first quarterfinal of the year, but he’s not taking anything for granted. The Indonesian looked sharp against the in-form world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn, who was in the final of the French Open on Sunday, grinding out a 21-19 18-21 21-13 win in 70 minutes.

“Every time it’s difficult with him,” said Christie. “He’s the world champion. We both played well today, but maybe luck was on my side.”

In the same half of the draw – but different quarter – Lakshya Sen dug himself out of a hole against Anders Antonsen.

The Dane was flying at 12-6 in the decider before Sen’s dogged fightback saw him level at 13, and then go on a six-point streak that took him into the quarterfinals.

“It was a very good match,” said Sen. “Happy with the way I played in the third. From that end I could figure out what to do, play a fast game and attack. The way he started the third, he started attacking and got a lead. I figured out that it was a matter of a few points, that I had to go all out, and that helped.”

Other Highlights

» World No.1 and French Open champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty, who were on a run of four successive finals, ran into 2022 champions Muhammad Shohibul Fikri/Bagas Maulana, with the Indonesians winning 21-16 21-15.

» Aimsaard sisters Benyapa and Nuntakarn broke through against Liu Sheng Shu/Tan Ning for the first time in four matches, beating the fourth seeds 21-16 23-21.

» China’s top two men’s pairs – Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang and Liu Yu Chen/Ou Xuan Yi – both crashed out to Chinese Taipei opponents. Liang/Wang fell to Olympic champions Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin, while Liu/Ou were beaten by the in-form Lee Jhe-Huei/Yang Po-Hsuan.

» Fourth seeds Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen were stopped by Supak Jomkoh/Kittinupong Kedren, 21-12 5-21 21-19.

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