KUALA LUMPUR: Professional mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie have to wade through uncharted waters in a bid to reach their second semi-finals in the All-England.
The top seeds will face fifth seeds Jiang Zhenbang-Huang Dongping of China in today’s quarter-finals at Utilita Arena in Birmingham.
Yesterday, Soon Huat-Shevon cruised past Scotland’s Alexander Dunn-Julie Macpherson with a commanding 21-9, 21-10 victory in a quick-paced 25-minute match.
Soon Huat-Shevon last reached the semi-finals in 2019 but have never cleared the early rounds in the last five editions.
While happy to reach the quarters, Soon-Huat Shevon are bracing themselves for a tricky match against Zhenbang-Dongping.
The Chinese pair is a scratch partnership, and Soon Huat-Shevon have yet to face them in competition.
Previously, Zhenbang partnered Wei Yaxin, and together they defeated Soon Huat-Shevon in the Indian Open semi-finals in January. Dongping had previously played alongside Feng Yanzhe.
“They don’t have many past matches for us to analyze, only two here,” said Shevon.
“So we have to prepare ourselves well. Based on our previous encounters (with different players), we’ll focus on their strengths and weaknesses and use that to our advantage,” she added.
“Actually, our draw is quite tough. The first and second rounds were manageable, but from the quarter-finals onwards, it gets much harder.
“We have a huge challenge tomorrow (today) against the Chinese pair.”
