KUALA LUMPUR: Leong Jun Hao put an end to his first-round jinx with a hard-fought victory over Japan's Koo Takahashi at the Swiss Open on Wednesday.
The Kuala Lumpur-born, who had crashed out in the opening round in four of his last five BWF tournaments, was determined to turn things around at St Jakobshalle, Basel.
Despite being tipped to ease past world No. 45 Takahashi, world No. 26 Jun Hao found himself in a real battle but held his nerve to grind out a 21-19, 22-20 win in 54 minutes.
The result sees the Malaysian book a second-round showdown against Japan's Kenta Nishimoto on Thursday.
