Mulheim-An-Der-Rhur: The mixed doubles No. 3 seeds Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai of Malaysia made a narrow escape in a tense three-set thriller on Tuesday, outlasted unseeded Sam Magee/Chloe Magee of Ireland 15-21, 21-17, 21-17 in a shocking tough battle to reach the second round of the German Open.
The match was Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai’s first since winning the Malaysia national final last week. The pair roared back from 7-13 in the third set to eventually clinched the opener in 70 minutes. The Malaysian pair will play Lee Yang/Hsu Ya Ching of Taiwan in the second round.
After losing to Goh/Lai in the final of Malaysia national badminton championships last week, Malaysia’s mixed doubles pair No. 4 seeds Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing continued to struggle on court as they suffered a painful first round exit, going down to Niclas Nohr/Sara Thygesen of Denmark 17-21, 13-21 in 37 minutes.
Qualifiers Tinn Isriyanet/Pacharapun Chochuwong of Thailand however pulled off upset of the day by seeing off No. 7 seeds Reginald Lee Chun Hei/Chau Hoi Wah of Hong Kong 21-17, 19-21, 21-17 in 54 minutes.
The Thailand pair will play the winner between Pranaav Jerry Chopra/Reddy N. Sikki and Chang Ko-chi/Cheng Chi Ya in the second round.
Malaysia’s Rio Olympic mixed doubles silver medalists Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying that were reunited and won the Thailand Masters early this year, will play qualifiers Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktavianti of Indonesia in the first round on Wednesday.
