Georgetown: An inspired Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong pair continued to fire on all cylinders in the quest for their first title of the year, as they shown what they have in store, bouncing back from one set deficit to topple No.1 seeds Kim Gi Jung/Kim Sa Rang of Korea 15-21, 21-18, 21-16 in the Malaysia Masters men’s doubles semi-finals on Saturday.
The victory was Koo/Tan’s first win against the World No. 7 pair from Korea in their fifth overall encounters.
“We played passively in the first set. After we dropped the first set, I told Kien Keat that we have to be more proactive to optimize our chances,” said Boon Heong.
Koo/Tan will clash with Indonesia’s World No. 16 Gideon Markus Fernaldi/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in the men’s doubles finals on Saturday. The Indonesia pair defeated Takeshi Kamura/Keigo Sonoda of Japan 21-7, 21-17 in the semi-finals.
Playing in their fourth tournaments together, Malaysia’s mixed doubles youngsters Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing put up a brilliant performance to stun their seniors and World No. 15 Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying 21-17, 21-16 to clinch their first ever final berth in an international tournament.
“It’s unbelievable. We are excited to be in the final, and hope to win the title tomorrow,” said Lai Pei Jing.
Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing will face another young but extremely talented pair Zheng Siwei/Li Yinhui from China in the mixed doubles finals. Zheng Siwei/Li Yinhui shocked tournament’s top seeds and World No. 2 pair Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia in the first round of the tournament, beating the Indonesian pair 21-15, 10-21, 21-17 on Tuesday.
In women’s doubles final, top seeds Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi of Japan will have a great chance to exact their revenge against No. 6 Tang Yuanting/Yu Yang of China as the Japanese pair was defeated by Chinese pair 21-18, 13-21, 12-21 in last year’s China Open women’s doubles final.
