Gan’s Japanese guns hope to blow away Korean obstacle for first title

KUALA LUMPUR: Japan’s Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino have a South Korean puzzle to solve in their bid to capture a historic mixed doubles title in the Malaysian Open.

World No. 2 Watanabe-Higashino, surprisingly, have never beaten world No. 7 Kim Won-ho-Jeong Na-eun in their past three meetings and are out to end their losing run in the title showdown today to become the first Japanese pair to be crowned champions in the tourney.