No go: Tee Kai Wun (left) and Man Wei Chong lost 16-21, 14-21 to India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty.
PETALING JAYA: South Korea’s Choi Sol-gyu-Kim Won-ho yet again denied Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi a spot in the semi-finals of a World Tour competition when they edged the Malaysians 21-18, 21-18 in the last eight of the French Open in Paris yesterday.
The independent pair had also lost out to the Koreans in the quarter-finals of the Japan Open in Osaka last month.
The loss was a bitter blow for world No. 9 Yew Sin-Ee Yi, who had looked to have re-discovered their good form when they reached the semi-finals of the Denmark Open last week.
But Yew Sin-Ee Yi could not bring out their A-game yesterday against the Korean world No. 18 pair and were left to contemplate their sixth quarter-final exit of the year.
Besides the Japan Open, Yew Sin-Ee Yi had also been shown the door in the last-eight in the German Open (March), Swiss Open (March), Korean Open (April) and Malaysian Open (July). They will next look to bounce back in the Australian Open from Nov 15-20.
However, they do have something to cheer about as they are virtually guaranteed a spot in the season-ending World Tour Finals from Dec 14-18 in Guangzhou.
This is after compatriots Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani went down 18-21, 21-19, 17-21 to Indonesia’s All-England champions Shohibul Fikri-Bagas Maulana in the second round on Thursday.
Another pair, Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun were also eliminated in the second round after they lost 16-21, 14-21 to India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty.
Malaysia also saw their challenge in the mixed doubles come to an end when independent pair Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing disappointingly went down 12-21, 21-14, 15-21 to Japan’s Yuki Kaneko-Misaki Matsutomo.
There was good news in the women’s doubles when national No. 1 Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah booked their spot in the quarter-finals after sweeping aside Indonesia’s Febriana Kusuma-Amalia Pratiwi 21-16, 21-14.
World No. 11 Pearly-Thinaah have an uphill battle in the last-eight though, as they take on Japan’s world No. 3 Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida.
The Malaysians have never beaten the Japanese in their last six attempts.
SECOND ROUND
Men’s singles: Rasmus Gemke (Den) bt K. Srikanth (Ind) 19-21, 21-12, 21-19; Viktor Axelsen (Den) bt Sitthikom Thammasin (Tha) 21-19, 21-17; Lu Guangzu (China) bt H.S. Prannoy (Ind) 21-19, 20-22, 21-19; Lee Cheuk Yiu bt Wang Tzu-wei (Tpe) 13-21, 24-22, 21-10; Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Tha) bt Sameer Verma (Ind) 21-18, 21-11.
Men’s doubles: Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi bt Leo Rolly-Daniel Marthin (Ina) 21-18, 17-21, 22-20; Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty (Ind) bt Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun 21-16, 21-14; Shohibul Fikri-Bagas Maulana (Ina) bt Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani 21-18, 19-21, 21-17; Ben Lane-Sean Vendy (Eng) bt Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto (Ina) 16-21, 23-21, 21-15; Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang (Chn) bt Mark Lamsfuss-Marvin Seidel (Ger) 18-21, 21-19, 21-15; Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (Jpn) bt Alexander Dunn-Adam Hall (Sco) 21-12, 21-16.
Women’s singles: Tai Tzu-ying (Tpe) bt Kim Ga-eun (Kor) 21-18, 21-14; Han Yue (Chn) bt Yvonne Li (Ger) 21-18, 21-8; Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) bt Supanida Katethong (Tha) 21-10, 21-17; He Bingjiao (Chn) bt Mia Blichfeldt (Den) 21-15, 21-10; Busanan Ongbamrungphan (Tha) bt Chen Yufei (Chn) 13-21, 21-19, 21-15.
Women’s doubles: Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah bt Febriana Kusuma-Amalia Pratiwi (Ina) 21-16, 21-14; Kim So-yeong-Kong Hee-yong (Kor) bt Liu Xuanxuan-Xia Yuting (Chn) 21-15, 21-8; Jeong Na-eun-Kim Hye-jeong (Kor) bt Julie Macpherson-Ciara Torrance (Sco) 21-9, 21-16; Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota bt Maiken Fruergaard-Sara Thygesen (w.o).
Mixed doubles: Yuki Kaneko-Misaki Matsutomo (Jpn) bt Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing 21-12, 14-21, 21-15; Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue (Fra) bt Reginald Lee-Ng Tsz Yau (Hkg) 21-17, 24-22; Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong (Chn) bt Mathias Christiansen-Alexandra Boje (Den) 23-25, 21-14, 21-10; Rehan Naufal-Lisa Ayu (Ina) bt Terry Hee-Jessica Tan (Sin) 21-14, 19-21, 21-16.
QUARTER-FINALS
Men’s doubles: Choi Sol-gyu-Kim Won-ho (Kor) bt Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi 21-18, 21-18
Women’s singles: Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) bt Lalinrat Chaiwan (Tha) 21-7, 21-6.
Women’s doubles: Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee (Kor) bt Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan (Chn) 21-16, 23-21.
