Huge hurdles: Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi and Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei (below) fall against their respective opponents in the quarter-finals of the Malaysian Open. — Bernama
IT WILL be awfully quiet for the hosts at the Malaysian Open semi-finals today.
The local interest at the home tournament came to a disappointing end when independent pair Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi’s run was halted by world No. 1 Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto of Indonesia in the quarter-finals at the Axiata Arena yesterday.
Yew Sin-Ee Yi had a strong start but Fajar-Rian proved why they are the top pair in men’s doubles by recovering from a first-game defeat to secure a 14-21, 21-16, 21-17 win in 75 minutes.
Having beaten Fajar-Rian in their last meeting – at the World Tour Finals in Bangkok last month – Yew Sin-Ee Yi started confidently but the Indonesians staged a brilliant fightback to dent the Malaysians’ hopes.
Ee Yi was disappointed that no Malaysians were left to carry the national flag.
“Fajar-Rian were more consistent and patient. We adopted a defensive approach in the first game and we continued playing the same way in the second but they changed their tactics,” said Ee Yi.
Yew Sin said that their approach was to always enjoy their career without putting too much pressure on themselves.
“There was no pressure on us although we were the only men’s pair left,” said Yew Sin.
“We just tried to play our game. If we can get the rhythm going, we can actually battle with anyone.”
Fajar-Rian will meet South Korean pair Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae, who toppled world No. 2 Hendra Setiawan-Mohammad Ahsan of Indonesia 21-13, 19-21, 21-12, today.
Meanwhile, India’s Saitwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty slammed the brakes on China hotshots Liu Yuchen-Ou Xuanyi with a come-from-behind 17-21, 22-20, 21-9 win in 66 minutes to check into the last four.
“In the third game, they (Yuchen-Xuanyi) lost their confidence but we believed in ourselves and when it was 11-6, we thought it was our game and we got quite confident,” said Satwiksairaj.
The Commonwealth Games champions will face another Chinese obstacle in Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang, who edged Denmark’s Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen 22-20, 23-21.
