Tokyo: A vintage display from Malaysia’s World No. 5 pair Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying took them past World No. 3 Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino of Japan 21-18, 22-20 in the Japan Open quarter-finals on Friday.
Chan/Goh gave their confidence a quick boost when they reeled off 6 consecutive points, rallying from 14-17 to eventually take the first set 21-18.
The Malaysian pair then fended off a spirited challenge from the Japanese pair as Watanabe/Higashino managed to win 5 straight points to level the score at 19-19, before picking up the second set win with 22-20.
After Friday’s victory, Chan/Goh have extended their career meeting against the Japanese to 4-2 and will take on No. 2 seeds Wang Yi Lyu/Huang Dong Ping in the last four. Chan/Goh are looking to exact the revenge against Wang/Huang as they lost to the same pair in the Indonesia Open semi-finals last week.
In men’s doubles, Malaysia’s Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik showed they were able to stand up against the best pair in the world, Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia as they were very close to eliminate the World No. 1 pair with a match point advantage at 22-21 in the second set. But yet again, we have witnessed his numerous times this year that their inability of closing a tight game at the crucial moment allowing Gideon/Sukamuljo to come from behind and force a decider. Gideon/Sukamuljo went on to win the match 21-14, 22-24, 21-15 and will play No. 3 seeds Liu Yuchen/Li Junhui on Saturday.
At the bottom half, another Indonesian pair, No. 4 seeds Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan will face No. 2 seeds Takeshi Kamura/Keigo Sonoda of Japan in the final four.
In women’s singles, Michelle Li of Canada pulled off a huge upset as she edged past No. 1 seed Tai Tzu Ying 21-15, 15-21, 22-20 to set up a semi-final battle against Nozomi Okuhara of Japan.
Japan’s men’s singles defending champion Kento Momota was dragged into a marathon fight against Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting before winning the quarter-final match 21-13, 20-22, 21-15 in 89 minutes. Momota will next play Sai B Praneeth of India.
