Singapore: Former World No. 1 men’s pair Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong of Malaysia stared down defeat and fought back from a set down before knocking Lee Sheng Mu/Tsai Chia Hsin of Taiwan out of the Singapore Open on Wednesday with a 20-22, 21-15, 21-18 victory in their thrilling opener.
Goh/Tan will next face the Indonesia/Malaysia duo of Hendra Setiawan/Tan Boon Heong after the unseeded Setiawan/Tan edged Kittinupong Kedren/Dechapol Puavaranukroh of Thailand 21-14, 21-19 in 29 minutes.
Meanwhile, top seeded Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia who are seeking their fourth consecutive Superseries title this year, needed only 24 minutes to defeat Choi Solgyu/Kim Gi Jung of Korea 21-11, 21-18 to advance to the second round. The Indonesians will meet Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi of Japan next.
In women’s doubles, Vivian Hoo/Woon Khe Wei of Malaysia took their opponents to three sets before losing to Hsu Ya Ching/Wu Ti Jung of Taiwan 22-20, 18-21, 12-21. Two other Malaysian women’s doubles pair including Chow Mei Kuan/Lee Meng Yean, and Lim Yin Loo/Yap Cheng Wen all fizzled out in the Singapore Open first round.
Last week’s Malaysia Open women’s doubles champions Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota also suffered an early exit, going down to No. 4 seeds Chang Ye Na/Lee So Hee of Korea 21-23, 17-21.
