Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Jen Hao beat Indonesia’s Wibowo Kho Henrikho in a three-game epic at the BWF New Zealand Open today ©Getty Images

Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Jen Hao beat Indonesia’s Wibowo Kho Henrikho in a three-game epic to book his place in the third round of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) New Zealand Open at the North Shore Events Centre in Auckland today.

The men’s singles fourth seed was made to work extremely hard for his 19-21, 21-16, 21-19 victory as the unseeded Henrikho took the match to him from the outset in a tournament that is part of the BWF Grand Prix Gold. 

The first game saw the pair exchange the lead three times before the rangy Henrikho eventually clinched it 21-19.

The second game began as the first had with Henrikho forcing Hsu to the back of the court, but the 24-year-old established control of proceedings to win 21-16.

Hsu won six consecutive points that appeared to give him a comfortable lead in the final game, and although Henrikho stormed back to take it to the wire, he eventually succumbed to a 21-19 reverse. 

"I only arrived yesterday so I’m still adjusting to the time difference and he forced me to the back court a lot because of his height," said Hsu, who competed at last week’s Swiss Open in Basel.

"I’ve played him in the past and it’s his style to start attacking straight away and I struggled with that at the start.

"From game two, I saw Wibowo slip and I tried to force him to the back of the court, from that point I started to play a lot better."

South Korea's Ko Sung Hyun and Shin Baek Cheol defeated China’s Han Chengkai and Zhou Haodong in the men's doubles at the New Zealand Open in Auckland ©Getty Images
South Korea's Ko Sung Hyun and Shin Baek Cheol defeated China’s Han Chengkai and Zhou Haodong in the men's doubles at the New Zealand Open in Auckland ©Getty Images

Hsu now goes onto face Malaysia’s Teck Zhi Soo, the 16th seed who overcame Australia’s Pit Seng Low 21-8, 21-6.

There were also wins today for number one seed Son Wan Ho of South Korea - 21-14, 21-17 against Malaysia’s Daren Liew and number three seed Lee Dong Keun of South Korea - 21-6, 21-9 against Australia’s Nathan Tang.

In the first round of the women’s singles draw, the eight seeded players all advanced with top ranked Sung Ji Hyun of South Korea defeating home favourite Sally Fu 21-6, 21-7.  

Arguably the match of the day came in the men’s doubles as second seeds Ko Sung Hyun and Shin Baek Cheol of South Korea defeated China’s Han Chengkai and Zhou Haodong 21-19, 18-21, 21-17.

Joining them in the second round are top seeds Kim Gi Jung and Kim Sa Rang, also of South Korea, who overcame New Zealand’s Oliver Leydon-Davis and Niccolo Tagle 21-6, 21-10.

Ko and fellow South Korean Kim Ha Na are the top seeded mixed doubles pairing and began their campaign with a 22-20, 21-19 victory against Singapore’s Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Yu Yan Vanessa Neo.

The most notable casualties were number four seeds Solgyu Choi and Eom Hye Won of South Korea, who fell to a 21-23, 21-19, 11-21 loss at the hands of unseeded Chinese duo Zheng Siwei and Li Yinhui.

Action in Auckland is due to resume tomorrow, including the opening women’s doubles matches.