All the way: Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin beat Japan’s Yuta Watanabe-Maya Taguchi 21-14, 21-17 to reach the second round.
ODENSE: Youngsters Cheng Su Yin and Maya Taguchi have the same ambition – to complement well with their experienced partners in the mixed doubles.
And in their first Denmark Open appearance, it was the 21-year-old Su Yin who came out tops when she combined superbly with Hoo Pang Ron to beat Taguchi and Yuta Watanabe 21-14, 21-17 to reach the second round at the Jyske Bank Arena in Odense on Wednesday.
They have a tough job against the second seeds Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin of China next but Su Yin is just happy with the experience that she had gained so far.
“I played against Yuta! He is so experienced and I’ve watched him play many times, and this time, I played against him,” said Su Yin.
“I was nervous but our plan worked and we won. It has give me some confidence.”
Watanabe has won the Olympic Games bronze medal twice with Arisa Higashino but both have gone separate ways after the recent Paris Olympic Games.
Watanabe has been partnered with the 19-year-old Taguchi, who won the girls’ doubles world junior title in 2023 with Aya Tamaki while Higashino has gotten married and is currently playing in the women’s doubles with Ayako Sakuramoto.
Pang Ron said they took advantage of Taguchi’s inexperience in her debut with Watanabe.
“I must credit Su Yin. She did well to step up at times when I was unable to cover the court well,” he said.
“Yuta is a good player but it was his first tournament with Maya, and his first stint after a long break ... so I guess, they struggled to play well together.”
Despite the positive win, Pang Ron admitted that they have a long way to go. After all, their partnership has not even reached a full one-year since they made their debut at the Korean Masters last year.
“We still have not played against many top players yet. Our gap with the top 10 players are still far.
“We just have to keep progressing,” he added.
