China Masters: Teammates Lee, Gunawan in Historic Final

Hong Kong China are guaranteed a men’s singles champion at LI-NING China Masters 2026 after Jason Gunawan and Lee Cheuk Yiu set up a historic final.

It will be the first between Hong Kong China singles players in the HSBC BWF World Tour era – a reward for two familiar faces who have spent countless hours training and competing together.

Gunawan earned his place with a gruelling 98-minute comeback against fifth seed Anders Antonsen, winning 15-21 22-20 21-16. Earlier, Lee produced a composed performance to upset second seed Christo Popov 21-15 21-19.

“It’s fantastic. I think it’s the first time we can test ourselves against each other in a title match,” said Gunawan. “We know each other very well. We train a lot together.”

For the 22-year-old, the occasion means more than a personal breakthrough as he reaches his first Super 750 final.

“It’s a great confidence boost for us and our team. Hopefully, we can show our teammates and the younger players we can fight against the stronger teams and give them more confidence for the future.”

The only previous World Tour final involving Hong Kong China players came in mixed doubles at the 2018 Macau Open, when Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Suet faced Reginald Lee/Chau Hoi Wah.

“We both hope we can play our A game and show the audience the best fight,” Gunawan said.