KUALA LUMPUR: Has Lee Zii Jia truly rediscovered his form after a two-week peak last month in Europe? During that time, the world No. 11 silenced his critics by securing the Arctic Open Super 500, claiming his first World Tour title of the year, and came close to a second at the Denmark Open, finishing as the runner-up.
Following these notable performances, Zii Jia's fans were eagerly anticipating him to continue building on this momentum in the final stretch of the season.
However, inconsistency has once again become evident.
Zii Jia's campaign at the China Masters ended in the quarterfinals today, and even more disappointingly, with a subdued 21-11, 21-12 defeat to Japan's Kenta Nishimoto, an opponent he has previously dominated.
In Japan last week, Zii Jia suffered an early exit, being knocked out in the first round of the Kumamoto Masters Japan Super 500 by Denmark's Anders Antonsen.
However, the narrative of Zii Jia's inconsistency is far from unfamiliar.
Earlier this year, he experienced a streak of two consecutive semi-finals at the All England and Swiss Open in March, followed by winning all five matches in at the Sudirman Cup Finals in May.
However, Zii Jia then encountered a string of early exits, including five in the first rounds, before his brief resurgence at the Arctic Open.
Inconsistency has undeniably been a significant challenge, a point that Zii Jia himself has acknowledged.
"I would say that towards the end of the year, my performance has been improving.
"Yet, it's still quite a disappointing outcome in what was the last tournament of the year for me," said Zii Jia after his defeat to Nishimoto.
"Each match taught me a different lesson, a different experience.
"There are many things I'll need to work on. Hopefully, I'll be able to play more consistently next year.
"I will first go on a holiday before returning to the training camp to prepare for the Malaysia Open.
"Competing on home soil, I hope to secure a good result."
On his loss to Nishimoto, whom he had beaten six times in eight meetings previously, Zii Jia said he was unable to break the former's solid defence.
"Kenta played a very good defensive game today, all my attacking shots proved futile," he lamented.
The China Masters quarter-final outing was only his seventh this year in all 22 individual tournaments.
In the other 15, he exited in the first round eight times and in the second round seven times.
