Taipei: There will be 3 Malaysian players in the semi-finals of the Chinese Taipei Open after a day of mixed results in Taipei.
The young mixed doubles pair of Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing pulled off an upset Friday afternoon as they defeated the second ranked Reginald Lee Chun Hei/Chau Hoi Wah of Hong Kong in 58 minutes.
Tan/Lai dropped the 1st set to Lee/Chau 19-21, but they were able to come through a fierce challenge from the Hong Kong pair by winning the second set 21-19. Lee/Chau appeared demoralized at the start of the third set, and Tan/Lai harnessed the opportunity to quickly surge ahead to win the decider 21-7. Tan/Lai will play Riky Widianto/Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja of Indonesia for a place in the final on Saturday.
“I can sense that our opponents were under pressure after we won the second set,” said Lai Pei Jing.
“It’s really great to be able to beat a higher ranked pair,” added Lai Pei Jing.
Malaysia’s young men’s singles shuttler Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin rolled past Khosit Phetpradab of Thailand 21-17, 21-18 to set up a semi-final clash with No. 5 seed Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan on Saturday. Chou was made to work for his place in the last four after the Taiwanese suffered a huge scare to dispatch Vincent Wong Wing Ki of Hong Kong 19-21, 24-22, 21-18 in 83 minutes.
Nevertheless, Friday was a bad day for top seeded mixed doubles pair Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying and second seeded men’s doubles pair Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong
Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying fell 12-21, 21-17, 21-12 to China’s No. 5 seeds Zheng Siwei/Chen Qingchen while No. 2 seeds Goh/Tan again lapsed into inconsistency by losing to No. 5 seeds Huang Kaixiang/Zheng Siwei of China 21-14, 21-19 in 30 minutes.
In women’s competition, No. 1 seed Wang Shixian of China will take on compatriot No. 4 seed He Bingjiao in the semi-finals, while No. 2 seed Tai Tzu Ying will play Nitchaon Jindapol for a final berth.
