Barcelona: Malaysia’s mixed doubles department enjoyed a profitable day in the second day of Spain Masters as No. 1 seeds Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai and No. 2 seeds Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing secured the second round places at Vall d’Hebron Olympic Sports Centre in Barcelona on Wednesday.
Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai beat Misha Zilberman (Israel)/Katsiaryna Zablotskaya (Belarus) 21-12, 21-11 to set up a second round meeting with Pranaav Jerry Chopra/Reddy N. Sikki of India on Thursday.
Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing, however, need to dig deep to come from dropping the first set to beat Rodion Alimov/Alina Davletova 18-21, 21-17, 21-19 in 73 minutes. Tan/Lai earned a meeting with Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-huei/Hsu Ya Ching next.
In men’s singles, Viktor Axelsen, the No. 1 seed from Denmark was made to work hard to see off the spirited challenge from Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew, winning 13-21, 21-14, 21-15 in 52 minutes. Axelsen will take on Brice Leverdez of France in the second round.
Malaysia’s Daren Liew also got off to a strong start by defeating H. S. Prannoy of India 21-18, 21-15 in the opener. Liew will play Lucas Corvee of France in the round of 16.
