Cardiff: Malaysia’s World No. 112 Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Jemie Lai’s bid for a third consecutive international title ended on Saturday at the hands of World No. 16 and No. 1 seeds Robert Mateusiak/Nadiezda Zieba of Poland.
After beating World No. 18 mixed doubles pair Pranaav Jerry Chopra/Reddy N. Sikki of India in last week’s Scottish Open Grand Prix final, Goh/Lai needed only 39 minutes to kick off Saturday’s Welsh International semi-finals with a 21-16, 21-14 straight-sets win against Pranaav Jerry Chopra/Reddy N. Sikki once again.
Later in the day, the unseeded Goh/Lai set up a show down against World No. 16 and No. 1 seeds Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Zieba in the mixed doubles final.
The Malaysian and Poland pairs were neck and neck in the first half of first set, before Mateusiak/Zieba started to cruise ahead after 13-13 by winning the first set 21-16.
Goh/Lai quickly opened-up a 6-1 lead early in the second set when the Malaysian duo surged to a 21-11 second set victory.
In the decider, Goh/Lai allowed the Poland pair to claw back while leading at 8-4. After the interval, Goh/Lai managed to advance ahead with an 18-15 lead. However, the Malaysian pair suddenly lost their focus, squandering the 3 point lead to allow Mateusiak/Zieba to turn the table by reeling off 6 straight points in the decider to clinch the mixed doubles title.
Lim Yin Loo/Yap Cheng Wen of Malaysia were knocked out by No. 1 seeds Anastasia Chervyakova/Olga Morozova of Russia in women’s doubles semi-finals who eventually outlasted Ashwini Ponnappa/Reddy N. Sikki of India 21-16, 21-11 to bag the women’s doubles title.
Men’s singles No. 3 seed Pablo Abian of Spain, women’s singles No. 1 seed Beatriz Corrales of Spain and men’s doubles unseeded pair Liao Min Chun/Su Cheng Heng of Taiwan emerged champions in their respective categories.
