Anaheim: Malaysia’s campaign came to an end with two quarter-final losses in mixed doubles at the $120,000 US Open in Anaheim on Friday.
No. 1 seeds Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing of Malaysia walked out on Anaheim Convention Center Arena disappointed as they fought hard, but were edged past by Kim Won Ho/Shin Seung Chan of Korea 21-15, 18-21, 18-21 in the quarter-finals. The battle lasted 1 hour 2 minutes. Next up for the Korean pair are unseeded Ben Lane/Jessica Pugh of England in the semi-finals.
Unseeded Kohei Gondo/Wakana Nagahara of Japan produced a resilient display against No. 4 seeds Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai of Malaysia in the mixed doubles quarter-finals. Goh/Lai wasted a match point in the decider, allowing Gondo/Nagahara to rally back to see off the Malaysian pair 21-11, 8-21, 22-20 in 50 minutes.
Gondo/Nagahara next face another unseeded pair – Seo Seung Jae/Kim Ha Na of Korea on Saturday.
Meanwhile, in men’s singles, No. 2 seed HS Prannoy put up an impeccable display in his demolition of last week’s Canada Open champion and No. 8 seed Kanta Tsuneyama 10-21, 21-15, 21-18 in an one hour encounter. Prannoy next takes on No. 15 seed Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam while Heo Kwang Hee of Korea will meet Parupalli Kashyap of India in other men’s singles semi-finals.
In women’s singles, No. 1 seed Zhang Beiwen of USA was beaten by No. 5 seed Lee Jang Mi of Korea, losing 18-21, 26-24, 19-21 in 75 minutes. Lee will meet No. 3 seed Aya Ohori of Japan on Saturday. No. 6 seed Michelle Li will clash with Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland on Saturday for a spot in the women’s singles final.
