Mulheim: Two young Malaysian mixed doubles pairs – World No. 43 Chen Tang Jie/Toh Ee Wei and World No. 66 Hoo Pang Ron/Teoh Mei Xing were facing each other for the third time this year in the 2023 German Open first round on Tuesday, and Chen/Toh successfully seeing off their compatriots 21-12, 20-22, and 21-14 to advance to the second round.
Although Hoo/Teoh defeated Chen/Toh in the 2022 Malaysia International Challenge final, they have since lost to Chen/Toh three times in a row, including in the first round of the 2023 India Open, and the final of the 2023 Iran Fajr International Challenge.
Another Malaysian mixed pair – World No. 6 Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing, somehow performed poorly to go down in a straight-set to World No. 17 Dejan Ferdinansyah/Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja of Indonesia 14-21, 14-21. This was Tan/Lai’s second defeat to Ferdinansyah/Widjaja. They also lost to the Indonesian pair 11-21, 21-15, and 19-21 in the first round of the India Open on Jan 18, 2023.
In another mixed doubles first-round match, Japan’s top seeds Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino came from behind to overcome Korea’s independent pair – Ko Sung Hyun/Eom Hye Won 14-21, 21-13, 21-10 to enter the second round.
