Never say die: Anna Cheong-Teoh Mei Xing in action against Japan’s Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara in the second round. — GLENN GUAN/The Star
REVENGE is indeed sweet for our women’s doubles pairs.
Anna Cheong-Teoh Mei Xing avenged their defeat to Japan’s world No. 6 pair Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara in the quarter-finals of the Malaysian Open last week with an easy 21-11, 21-15 win in the second round of the Malaysian Masters yesterday.
“We focused on what we lacked when we played against the Japanese pair earlier and tried to improve this time around. It worked and we went all out and attacked them. We are happy to pull off this win,” said Anna.
And the 37th ranked pair have promised to produce another fighting display today when they take on Korea’s world No. 11 Jeong Na-eun-Kim Hye-jeong for a place in the semi-finals.
“We will go all out and try to win tomorrow (today). It will not be easy against the Koreans although we beat their higher-ranked compatriots in the home Open as they have the same coach and they will definitely have analysed our game. So, we need to be better prepared,” said Mei Xing.
World No. 10 Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah made it a double joy after taking down another Japanese pair, world No. 2 Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota with a 21-14, 21-19 win in 41 minutes.
The victory could have been more comfortable if Pearly-Thinaah had finished off the match while leading 18-12 in the second game.
Instead, the Malaysians conceded seven points in a row and barely prevented the match from extending to three games.
Pearly admitted that they should have remained focused and not rush into wanting to finish off the game when they were leading.
“We need to learn from this as we can’t allow our opponents to come back after leading. They were calm while we were too eager to finish the game fast and it nearly cost us. We need to be more focused next time,” said Pearly.
She and Thinaah have a tough task next as they face recently crowned Malaysian Open champions Indonesia’s Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Ramadhanti for a place in the semi-finals.
In their only encounter so far in last month’s Indonesian Masters, the Malaysians lost out in three games.
“We need to be more aggressive in our game play and reduce simple mistakes for us to stand a chance of winning,” said Thinaah.
SECOND ROUND RESULTS
Malaysians unless stated
MEN’S SINGLES: Chou Tien-chen (Tpe) bt Ng Tze Yong 21-18, 21-16; Li Shifeng (Chn) bt Sai Praneeth (Ind) 21-14, 21-17; Angus Ng Ka Long (Hkg) bt Mark Caljouw (Ned) 21-11, 21-5; Lu Guangzu (Chn) bt Nhat Nguyen (Irl) 21-10, 21-10; Anthony Ginting (Ina) bt Kashyap Parupalli (Ind) 21-10, 21-15; H.S Prannoy (Ind) bt Wang Tzu-wei (Tpe) 21-19, 21-16; Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo (Ina) bt Kantaphon Wangcharoen (Tha) 18-21, 21-11, 21-9; Kanta Tsuneyama (Jpn) bt Kento Momota (Jpn) 21-15, 21-16.
MEN’S DOUBLES: Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik bt Kim Gi-jung-Kim Sa-rang (Kor); Mohd Haikal Nazrin-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi bt Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun 21-18, 21-14; Chang Ko-chi-Po Li-wei (Tpe) bt Chang Yee Jun-Yap Roy King 14-21, 21-11, 21-10; Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto (Ina) bt Supak Jomkoh-Kittinupong Kedren (Tha) 21-14, 21-14; Lu Ching-yao-Yang Po-han (Tpe) bt Mark Lamsfuss-Marvin Siedel (Ger) 20-22, 21-12, 21-13; Mohd Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan (Ina) bt Ren Xiangyu-Tan Qiang (Chn) 21-14, 18-21, 21-15; Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang (Chn) bt Choi Sol-gyu-Kim Won-ho (Kor) 21-9, 21-17; Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (Jpn) bt Goh V Shem-Low Juan Shen w.o.
WOMEN’S SINGLES: Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) bt Wang Zhiyi (Chn) 12-21, 21-13, 21-12; An Se-young (Kor) bt Julie Jakobsen (Den) 21-11, 21-13; Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) bt Fitriani Fitriani (Ina) 21-6, 21-15; P.V. Sindhu (Ind) bt Zhang Yiman (Chn) 21-12, 21-10; Gregoria Mariska (Ina) bt Kim Ga-eun (Kor) 21-11, 21-9; Tai Tzu-ying (Tpe) bt Goh Jin Wei 16-21, 21-7, 21-9; Nozomi Okuhara (Jpn) bt Phittayaporn Chaiwan (Tha) 16-21, 21-17, 21-12; Chen Yufei (Chn) bt Pornpawee Chochuwong (Tha) 21-19, 21-13.
WOMEN’S DOUBLES: Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah bt Yuki Fukishima-Sayaka Hirota (Jpn) 21-14, 21-19; Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan (Chn) bt Liu Xuanxuan-Xia Yuting 21-11, 21-16; Du Yue-Li Wenmei (Chn) bt Jongkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajongjai (Tha) 22-20, 21-15; Anna Cheong-Teoh Mei Xing bt Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara (Jpn) 21-11, 21-15; Siti Fadia Ramadhanti-Apriyani Rahayu (Ina) bt Gabriela Stoeva-Stefani Stoeva (Bul) 21-18, 21-17; Jeong Na-eun-Kim Hye-jeong (Kor) bt Febby Gani-Ribka Sugiarto (Ina) 23-25, 21-17, 21-18; Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida (Jpn) bt Febriana Kusuma-Amalia Pratiwi (Ina) 21-17, 21-14; Lee So-hee-Shin Seung-chan (Kor) bt Melani Mamahit-Tryola Nadia (Ina) 21-12, 22-20.
MIXED DOUBLES: Supak Jomkoh-Supissara Paewsampran (Tha) bt Chen Tang Jie-Valeree Siow 21-10, 21-12; Robin Tabeling-Selena Piek (Ned) bt Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai (Tha) 17-21, 21-15, 21-13; Rinov Rivaldy-Pitha Haningtyas (Ina) bt Yuki Kaneko-Misaki Matsutomo (Jpn) 21-15, 21-18; Wang Yilyu-Huang Dongping (Chn) bt Hoo Pang Ron-Toh Ee Wei 21-16, 21-16; Yang Po-hsuan-Hu Ling-fang (Tpe) bt Chang Tak Ching-Ng Wing Yung (Hkg) 21-13, 21-10; Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino (Jpn) bt Mathias Christiansen-Alexandra Boje (Den) 21-19, 18-21, 21-15; Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie bt Hafiz Faizal-Serena Kani 21-15, 22-20; Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong (Chn) bt Chan Peng Soon-Cheah Yee See 21-11, 21-13.
