New Delhi: In the quarterfinals of the 2024 India Open, the Malaysian men’s doubles pair of Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik faced off against the Chinese “Twin Towers” pair of Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi.
Highlights of Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik vs. Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi in the 2024 India Open quarterfinals:
The first set was fiercely contested by both sides as the score was close throughout the game. While the Chinese pair held a slight lead in the middle stage at 18-17, Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik successfully staged a comeback, securing the first set with a score of 21-19.
In the second set, the Chinese pair took a small lead of 5-3 early on, but Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik surged ahead, winning six consecutive points to lead 9-5. They continued to dominate, entering the interval with a score of 11-6. Despite a strong effort from the Chinese pair to close the gap to 11-12 and eventually equalize at 15-15, Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik held their ground, finishing strong with scores of 18-16, 19-17, ultimately crossing over the “Twin Towers” 21-19 and advancing to the semi-finals.
Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik will face either the Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty or the Danish men’s doubles pair of Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the semi-finals.
In another match, Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia faced a tough battle against Japan’s Kodai Naraoka. Lee Zii Jia won the first set 21-13, but Naraoka responded with a convincing 21-9 victory in the second set. In the decisive third set, Naraoka held a lead of 13-12 and managed to secure a final victory with a score of 21-16, ending the match after a lengthy 1 hour and 18 minutes.
As a result, Lee Zii Jia, ranked 10th in the world, missed the opportunity to advance to the semi-finals of the India Badminton Super 750 tournament. Despite this, his performance in this tournament showed a notable improvement compared to last week’s Malaysia Super 1000 tournament, where he was eliminated in the first round.
This marks the fourth encounter between the two players, with Naraoka leading 3-1 and securing two consecutive victories in their last two matches. All four of their matches went to three sets and lasted over an hour each.
