For the first time since March 2, Viktor Axelsen won a badminton match.
On Wednesday, he opened his campaign in the Super 750 China Masters tournament with a three-set win over China's Wang Zhengxing, ranked 17th in the world.
Wang otherwise won the first set and was ahead 16-9 in the second and looked on course for a certain win. But Axelsen recovered his stylish stride when it really mattered and won 16-21, 21-17, 21-11 in just his second match after his comeback following his back surgery.
31-year-old Axelsen, who has dropped to 18th in the world rankings during his lengthy injury period, seemed far from his best for a long time. However, in the second half of the match, he adjusted his game and showed glimpses of his former self.
Axelsen made a good start to the match but at 7-7 the Chinese gained momentum with four successive points to lead 11-7, and Wang held on to the comfortable lead for the rest of the set.
Axelsen struggled to find the form which turned him into the world's best for a number of years for extended periods of the game.
Axelsen managed to raise his game briefly at the start of the second set to make it 4-2 but then Wang won eight successive points to make it 10-4.
At 9-16 Axelsen suddenly began playing with great discipline and ended up winning 12 out of the last 13 points to win the set 21-17.
The third set began very evenly. The Chinese became a little more defensive minded, and Axelsen took advantage of that to dominate the game. He forced the Chinese to make more errors than in the first two sets and took an 11-9 lead.
Axelsen was now in full control and began producing a series of winners. The Dane made it 18-10 and took advantage of his first match point to win 21-11.
