Major hiccup: Indonesia’s Sabar Gutama (left) and Moh Reza suffer a setback at the Malaysian Open. — FAIHAN GHANI/The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: Indonesia endured a rare disappointment in the Malaysian Open when none of their men's doubles pairs cleared the early rounds.
A day after world No. 4 and 2022 champions Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto fell to Malaysians Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi, Indonesia’s challenge in the event was wiped out after world No. 11 Sabar Gutama-Moh Reza went down to England’s Ben Lane-Sean Vendy at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil.
Sabar-Moh were the favourites to win after enjoying a great 2024 but were far from their best and lost out 16-21, 14-21 to the world No. 13 English pair.
The Indonesian pair captured the Spain Masters title last year and finished runners-up in the China Masters and Hong Kong and Macau Opens.
Sabar though was left dejected.
"We are disappointed as our opponents played better than us. Their shots were more effective than ours and we made a lot of unforced errors," said Sabar.
"We are also not 100 percent fit as we had a long season in 2024 with many tournaments. We hope to do better after this.
"We did well last year and we are trying to enjoy the game more."
Meanwhile, it was joy for Lane-Vendy, who were over the moon after recording their second upset win in the tournament.
The English duo toppled China’s world No. 7 He Jiting-Ren Xiangyu 23-21, 19-21, 21-11 in the first round.
Lane-Vendy are out to continue their impressive run when they take on another Chinese pair world No. 18 Chen Boyang-Liu Yi.
"We were resilient and did not give much chances for the Indonesians to get points," said Vendy.
"Our performance has been good at the start of this year. We played two solid matches and we want to keep going."
