New Delhi: Despite dropping a set, Malaysia’s No. 1 men’s doubles pair Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong stormed away in a 3-set thriller against World number 12, Mads Conrad-Petersen/Mads Pieler Kolding of Denmark with a brilliant display of shot making at the Siri Fort Complex, New Delhi, before reaching the India Open semi-finals on Friday.
The World No. 14 and 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games gold medal winning pair lost their first set 19-21, but the Malaysian pair regrouped to win the second and third set 21-16, 21-13 against the fourth seeds in 58 minutes. The victory allowed Goh/Tan to level their head-to-head record against the Danish pair to 1-1 after Goh/Tan lost 15-21, 13-21 to Mads Conrad-Petersen/Mads Pieler Kolding in the 2015 All-England championships.
Goh/Tan will next meet Gideon Markus Fernaldi/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia while Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Cheol will play Angga Pratama/Ricky Karanda Suwardi in the semifinals on Saturday.
In the men’s singles, after the exits of Lee Chong Wei, Lin Dan, and Jan Jorgensen on Thursday, second seeded Japanese Kento Momota has emerged favorite to win the India Open as he dismantled Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Vittinghus 21-8, 21-9. Momota will play Chinese rising star Xue Song in the semi-finals.
Xue Song was made to work for his place in the last four after spending 64 minutes to see off Germany’s Marc Zwiebler 16-21, 21-13, 21-14.
In the other-half of the draw, unseeded South Korean Son Wan Ho who stunned Lin Dan on Thursday, upstaged No. 8 seed Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto in 21-11, 11-21, 21-8.
Son will clash with No. 5 seed Victor Axelsen of Denmark, as the Dane easily tamed Hong Kong’s Wei Nan 21-17, 21-12. Wei Nan pulled off a huge upset on Thursday by defeating top seed Lee Chong Wei in straight-sets.
