Basel: Malaysia’s interest at the Swiss Open ended on Saturday with the exit of former World No. 1 men’s doubles pair Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong.
The current World No. 15 independent duo played with the right intensity, great concentration when trailed 19-20, coming from behind to clinch the first set 23-21 against Taiwan’s Lee Sheng-mu/Tsai Chia-Hsin. Although Koo/Tan levelled up the scores at 16-16, but after making too many unforced errors, they allowed Lee/Tsai to finish four consecutive points and pulled away decisively to win the second set 21-17.
It was a one sided affair in the decider as Koo/Tan hardly put up much resistance against the Taiwanese pair with the Malaysians lost the third set 10-21.
In women’s singles semi-finals, China’s No. 3 seed Wang Yihan took complete control by winning the first set 21-11 against No. 1 seed Saina Nehwal of India. Wang displayed a sublime shot making exhibition in the second set, coolly controlled the game from start to finish by defeating Nehwal 21-19.
Wang will play compatriot He Bingjiao in the finals on Sunday. He Bingjiao defeated her teammate Sun Yu 21-15, 21-19 in other women’s semi-final.
No. 13 seed India’s H. S Prannoy overcame some feisty resistance from Chinese Taipei’s Tzu Wei Wang, before surviving an almighty scare to advance to the men’s singles final with 12-21, 21-14, 23-21 victory in 56 minutes.