GLASGOW — France’s Brice Leverdez pulled off a major shock at the Badminton World Championships by defeating men’s second seed Lee Chong Wei in three games in Glasgow Tuesday.

The 31-year-old claimed the biggest scalp of his career 21-19, 22-24, 21-17 in 75 minutes, and in the process perhaps ended Lee’s elusive search for the world title which has seen him take three silver medals just as he has done in the Olympics.

Leverdez had two match points in the second game — 20-21 and 21-22 — and it was only a successful hawk eye challenge on the second match point that saved Lee from a straight games exit.

China’s Chen Long, the defending champion and Olympic gold medalist, had no such problem. In one of the quickest first-round matches, he swept aside Georges Julien Paul, from Mauritius, 21-7, 21-9.

Japan’s top seeded Akane Yamaguchi also had an easy passage into the last 16 as she ousted Denmark’s Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt 21-13, 21-11 in just 28 minutes.

The seed to survive a big scare was China’s Tian Houwei. In the deciding game, he trailed 12-16 to Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus.

But the left-handed No. 10 seed then reeled off nine points in a row to win 21-14, 17-21, 21-16.

Top seed Son Wan-ho didn’t have it easy against Finland’s Kalle Koljonen in his first round Monday.

The 29-year-old trailed in the early stages of the first game — 3-5 and 5-7 — before eventually getting in front 9-8. He took it 21-14.

The second was also a tester. It got to 16-all before the South Korean broke through to win 21-14, 21-16 in 44 minutes.

Chinese legend Lin Dan had a much easier passage as he began his quest for a sixth world title.

He was up against the Scottish No.1 Kieran Merrilees, and won 21-15, 21-10.

Switzerland’s Sabrina Jacquet was involved in one of the longest matches of the first round, finally overcoming Ukrainian Natalya Votysekh 21-14, 18-21, 21-10. — AFP