Bali: The World No. 9 mixed doubles pair – Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying gained sweet revenge over Jones Ralfy Jansen/Linda Efler of Germany in the 2021 Indonesia Open second round, beating the German pair 21-9, 21-13 on Thursday.
Chan/Goh lost to the German pair in the Indonesia Masters first round last Tuesday. The Malaysians will play Ko Sung Hyun/Eom Hye Won of Korea on Friday.
Another Malaysian mixed doubles pair – Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing also advanced to the last eight and will meet No. 1 seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand for a ticket to the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s World No. 19 men’s pair, Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin pulled off a huge surprise in the second round of the 2021 Indonesia Open on Thursday when they beat the 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medalist, Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin of Taiwan 21-15, 23-21 to advance to the quarter-finals.
Goh/Izzuddin were in complete control and won the first game in just 14 minutes. In the second game, the Malaysian pair staged a great comeback, saving 3 game-point to clinch the game in 23 minutes.
The unseeded pair will take on No. 6 seeds, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty of India on Friday.
Malaysia’s other men’s doubles pair, the World No. 12 Teo Ee Yi/Ong Yew Sin will have the opportunity to exact revenge against World No. 1 – Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia in the quarter-finals. Teo/Ong lost to the Indonesian pair 21-18, 17-21, 11-21 in last week’s Indonesia Masters semi-finals.
On Thursday, Teo/Ong advanced to the top eight after beating compatriots, World No. 6 Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik 21-14, 21-17 in the second-round action, while Marcus-Kevin overcame Choi Solgyu-Kim Wonho from South Korea 12-21, 21-19, 21-18.
In the women’s doubles competition, three Malaysian pairs – Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan, Lee Meng Yean/Yap Cheng Wen, and Vivian Hoo/Lim Chiew Sin were all stranded in the second round.
The No. 8 seeds Tan/Muralitharan went down to Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma/Amalia Cahaya Pratiwi 21-14, 20-22, 17-21.
“We should have won the match. It’s very disappointing, but it’s a lesson for us,” said Pearly.
“Our level of fitness and focus on the court has not reached a high level yet, and we still have a lot to improve,” added Tan.
Two other Malaysian women’s pairs – Lee Meng Yean/Yap Cheng Wen went down to the hands of Gabriela Stoeva/Stefani Stoeva of Bulgaria 14-21, 15-21 while Vivian Hoo/Lim Chiew Sin lost to third seeds from Thailand, Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai 26-24, 12 -21, 11-21.
