PETALING JAYA: Shuttlers Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi (pic) let slip a golden opportunity to reach their first World Tour competition final this year at the Japan Masters but they can take comfort for dishing out one of their better performances in recent times.
Yew Sin-Ee Yi were leading 21-16, 19-14 against China’s Liu Yuchen-Ou Xuanyi in the men’s doubles semi-finals but unexpectedly blew their huge advantage and ended up losing the second and third games 20-22, 17-21 at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium yesterday.
It was a bitter defeat for the independent world No. 12 pair and coach Rosman Razak could not hide his disappointment after the loss.
“I feel very sad that Yew Sin-Ee Yi could not finish the match in the second game,” said Rosman.
“In the third game, the opponents increased their speed and our pair’s quality of counter attack and defence went down.
Rosman, though, is determined to take the positives from the match.
“Although, I’m sad with the result, I’m happy that Yew Sin-Ee Yi managed to perform better,” he said.
“Hopefully, this result gives them extra motivation for the next tournament and they stay injury free.”
The duo have been struggling to find their best form in the past few months but their overall showing in Japan augurs well.
xYew Sin-Ee Yi last reached a World Tour final last November where they finished runners-up to Yuchen-Xuanyi in the Australian Open in Sydney.
The former had made it into the final of the Asian Championships in April where they had to settle for silver after narrowly losing out to India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty.
Yew Sin-Ee Yi still have a slim chance to qualify for the prestigious season-ending World Tour Finals in Hangzhou from Dec 13-17 if they can go all the way to win the China Masters, which starts on Tuesday in Shenzhen.
Only the top eight pairs in the Race to Finals rankings can make the cut.
Yew Sin-Ee Yi are currently in 11th spot with 72,350 points while Yuchen-Xuanyi are close behind them in 12th place with 72,280 points and look on course to overtake them.
The Chinese pair will face compatriots He Jiting-Ren Xiangyu for the title today.
Meanwhile, in the men’s singles, Denmark’s world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen marched into the final after sweeping aside home qualifier Takuma Obayashi 21-7, 21-13. Axelsen will take on China’s world No. 7 Shi Yuqi, who defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-15, 21-16 in the last four.
SEMI FINAL RESULTS
Men’s singles: Viktor Axelsen (Den) bt Takuma Obayashi (Jpn) 21-7, 21-13; Shi Yuqi (Chn) bt Chou Tien-chen (Tpe) 21-15, 21-16.
Men’s doubles: Liu Yuchen-Ou Xuanyi (Chn) bt Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi (Mas) 16-21, 22-20, 21-17; He Jiting-Ren Xiangyu (Chn) bt Tan Qiang-Zhou Haodong (Chn) 21-13, 21-16.
Women’s singles: Chen Yufei (Chn) bt An Se-young (Kor) 21-18, 20-22, 21-8; Gregoria Mariska (Ina) bt Zhang Beiwen (US) 21-12, 21-13.
Women’s doubles: Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning (Chn) bt Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara (Jpn) 21-16, 23-21; Zhang Shuxian-Zheng Yu (Chn) bt Rena Miyaura-Ayaka Sakuramoto (Jpn) 21-12, 21-15.
Mixed doubles: Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong (Chn) bt Seo Seungjae-Chae Yu-jung (Kor) 20-22, 23-21, 21-13; Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping (Chn) bt Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino (Jpn) 18-21, 21-15, 24-22.
