PETALING JAYA: Mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie are down after an opening game setback in the World Tour Finals but they are not giving up hope yet.
The professionals went down 21-14, 10-21, 14-21 to fellow Malaysians and world No. 8 Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei in their first Group B match in Hangzhou, China. It was their third defeat in six meetings against the younger pair.
There is a chance for both pairs to make the semi-finals if they finish in the top two of their group and Shevon wants to give it a try, although it looks tough on paper.
The world No. 10 pair will face Japan’s current No. 1 pair Hiroki Midorikawa-Natsu Saito next.
The Japanese are only ranked 21st in the world but they have beaten Soon Huat-Shevon four times in five meetings.
“We didn’t play well today. We lost our momentum in the second game. They had marked Soon Huat and I was out of position too,” said Shevon.
“We have two more matches to go and we are not giving up.’’
Yesterday, Midorikawa-Saito showed signs of struggle when they went down 21-23, 21-16, 11-21 to Indonesians Dejan Ferdinansyah-Gloria Emanuelle in another Group B match.
Tang Jie-Ee Wei will face Dejan-Gloria today and have a good chance to exact sweet revenge. They had lost to the Indonesians in their only meeting at this year’s China Open in September.
Tang Jie is upbeat about their chances.
“It’s not about our opponents but it’s about us. As long as Ee Wei and I can complement each other, we can go far,” said Tang Jie.
Ee Wei said: “It’s a good for us and hopefully we can keep this form going.”
Meanwhile, Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah have a good chance to restore order in the Finals after going down fighting 21-13, 17-21, 18-21 to Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida of Japan.
It was their 11th defeat to the Japanese pair. They have only won against the top pair once en route to winning the French Open in 2022.
They can keep their hopes alive when they face Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand of India next. They have a good record against the Indian pair, having beaten them six times in seven meetings.
