Nanjing: Day 2 of the World Championships saw the World’s No. 38 men’s singles player Daren Liew off to a strong start by stunning World No. 15 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia 21-12, 21-16 in the opener on Tuesday.
It was a sweet revenge for Liew, after his loss to Christie in the first round of Malaysia Open that was held in Kuala Lumpur last June.
The 2012 French Open champion, Liew, became the sole Malaysian representative in the world meet after Lee Chong Wei pulled out from the tournament due to a respiratory illness. He is set to play Misha Zilberman of Israel in the next round.
In mixed doubles, Malaysia’s mixed doubles pair Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying eased past Indian pair Saurabh Sharma/Anoushka Parikh 21-18, 21-11 to set up a third round meeting with No. 11 Marcus Ellis/Lauren Smith of England.
Another Malaysian mixed doubles pair, Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Lai also entered the third round after outlasting Jacco Arends/Selena Piek Netherlands 21-13, 21-17 to take on Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Ashwini Ponnappa of India on Wednesday.
However, Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing were sent packing by Thai pair Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai, losing 12-21, 15-21 in 38 minutes.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s young men’s doubles pair, Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik, won their maiden appearance at the World Championships as they saw off South Korean pair Chung Eui Seok/Kim Dukyong 21-15, 21-18 to play Taiwan’s 12th seeded Lee Jhe Huei/Lee Yang in the second round.
“Today’s match was quite difficult because our opponents are in the top 30 of the world but we did not really think about winning. For us, what’s most important was to play with our game style and to give our best,” said Aaron.
“Tomorrow, we will be meeting the Taiwanese doubles pair once again, we beat them three weeks ago during the 16th round of the Thailand Open, but we are expecting a tough match this time,” added Aaron.
Meanwhile, Soniia Cheah, failed to advance to the next round after she was beaten by Japan’s Sayaka Sato 15-21, 11-21 in the women’s singles second round.
